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Comedian could unseat Ukraine’s Poroshenko in this Sunday’s presidential runoff

A comedian who plays a president on a popular television show who has no political background may unseat Ukraine’s deeply unpopular and pro-western president, Petro Poroshenko this Sunday.

The possibility of a political newcomer taking power at a time of upheaval in Ukrainian politics may make some in the West uneasy, but leaders have gained more confidence in Ukrainian democracy and are supporting free and fair elections no matter who wins.

Volodymyr Zelensky resoundingly beat out President Poroshenko in the first round of presidential elections on March 31, winning 30 percent of the vote compared to Poroshenko’s 16 percent.

The two will head to a second-round vote on April 21. A poll by the Kiev-based International Institute of Sociology ahead of Sunday put Zelensky's support at 48.4 percent, compared to 17 percent for Poroshenko and a further 17.9 percent undecided.

Ukrainian actor-turned-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky seen talking to the media on April 5, 2019

Ukrainian actor-turned-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky seen talking to the media on April 5, 2019 (Pavlo Conchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“Western leaders are a bit concerned but not to the level of opposing Zelensky for the presidency the way they opposed former President Viktor Yanukovych,” former U.S. ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan William Courtney told Fox News.

EXIT POLL SHOWS COMEDIAN LEADING UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: 'THE FIRST STEP TOWARD A GREAT VICTORY'

“Ukrainians have shown a healthy democratic tendency to support alternation in power.  On multiple occasions the opposition has won the presidency and power was transferred peacefully, one of the hallmarks of democracy,” Courtney added.

Since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukrainian voters have only re-elected a sitting president once and the outsider Zelensky stands a good chance of defeating the current president. Ukrainian civil society is very strong and voters appear ready to throw out yet another embattled incumbent.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, who was elected to office in 2014

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, who was elected to office in 2014 (Anna MarchenkoTASS via Getty Images)

Zelensky is running as a truth-telling change agent who vows to fight Ukraine's rampant corruption.

On his widely regarded television show, 'Servant of the People', Zelensky portrays a political novice who vows to fight the country’s corrupt elite. The real-life upstart presidential contender mirrors his character, and it helped turn his campaign into a politically viable one, although critics say he is light on policy.

“Zelensky has maintained maximum flexibility during the election time by refusing to be tied down to a particular program," Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Mitchell Orenstein told Fox News. "He has made few detailed proposals or policy statements. We have no idea what exactly he will do.”

MAN ARRESTED IN LONDON AFTER 'DELIBERATELY' RAMMING INTO UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR'S CAR, FORCING POLICE TO OPEN FIRE

On the most important issues facing the country, all candidates in the race took similar positions: combating rampant bureaucratic corruption, which has plagued Ukrainian politics for decades, resisting Russian aggression and interference as the deadlock in eastern Ukraine persists, and forging closer ties to the E.U. and NATO.

The election on Sunday comes down to the status quo and continuing the policies of the current unpopular president, or an anti-system candidate who represents a younger generation striving to rid the country of its widespread corruption.

“Zelensky will be elected to pursue a key element of the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, to fight unaccountable and corrupt oligarchic rule,” Mitchell said.

The election comes at a time when Ukrainian governance is particularly weak and Russia still controls 7 percent of its territory.

Despite the candidate’s pro-western direction and opposition to Russia, neither Poroshenko nor his opponent has a coherent strategy for confronting Russia or retaking the territory lost to Moscow in 2014, events which catapulted Poroshenko to the presidency.

Poroshenko was first elected in 2014 following the Euromaidan Revolution that toppled the regime of former President Yanukovych, who abandoned closer ties to the E.U. after pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE PRAISES WAY TRUMP HANDLES PUTIN

Although Ukraine has made strides in fighting corruption since Poroshenko became president, it has not been enough to satisfy Ukrainians who are desperate for accountable leadership following the corrupt and authoritarian rule of President Yanukovych.

“Poroshenko failed to capitalize on a mandate from the 2013-14 Maidan Revolution to make deep economic reforms that could have improved people's lives, and progress in fighting corruption, such as by reducing the role of the state in the economy, including wasteful state-owned enterprises,” Courtney said.

Many in Ukraine feel the hopes and aspirations of the 2014 revolution were not achieved and blame Poroshenko for the revolution’s shortcomings.

Russia is also still trying to undermine Ukrainian politics and the democratic process, according to an E.U. watchdog group.

“Russia is not going all-out to support or oppose either candidate through active measures -- propaganda, disinformation, and subterfuge. But Russia is doubtless employing these techniques to send a message to whoever wins that it still has ways to influence politics in Ukraine,” Courtney said.

After the annexation of Crimea, Russian separatist forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions held a referendum in May 2014 to declare independence from Ukraine. They are the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

Since Russian separatist forces invaded eastern Ukraine, the conflict transitioned into a stalemate and the regions remain controlled by Russian backed rebels.

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The United Nations says over 3.5 million people in eastern Ukraine will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2019 and the violence has killed more than 10,400 people and displaced 1.6 million since the conflict began in 2014.

Source: Fox News World

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Exclusive: Mexico’s Walmart pressures suppliers on pricing, forcing some to ditch Amazon

FILE PHOTO: A Walmart sign is pictured at one of their stores in Mexico City
FILE PHOTO: A Walmart sign is pictured at one of their stores in Mexico City, Mexico March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo

April 8, 2019

By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Walmart’s Mexico unit has penalized food companies supplying groceries to rival Amazon, pressure that has forced some to pull their products from the world’s largest online retailer, four people familiar with the matter said.

The tough tactics come as the two giants battle for supremacy in one of their most important foreign markets, one that Walmart currently dominates.

Walmart last year demanded discounts from food businesses whose products it found priced lower on the Mexican website of Amazon.com Inc, the people said, even though suppliers had no say in the Seattle retailer’s decision to undercut Walmart on price.

Two suppliers told Reuters they moved swiftly to pull their brands from Amazon, wary of jeopardizing their relationship with Walmart de Mexico. The companies, both of which sell common pantry goods, said Walmart accounts for more than half their supermarket sales in Mexico.

Walmart would not discuss its competition with Amazon in Mexico or the allegations made by suppliers. It told Reuters it does not dictate with whom vendors can do business. But it acknowledged it always presses for the lowest prices, particularly if competitors are giving shoppers a better deal.

“We could never tell anybody that they can’t sell to someone else,” Ignacio Caride, Walmart Mexico’s e-commerce head, told Reuters.

“If we think there’s an opportunity to lower our prices, because we see better prices at other retailers, we’re going to negotiate for that access,” he said.

The company said in a statement that it aims to offer the lowest possible prices to benefit consumers, and doesn’t subsidize losses for some products with revenues from others.

Amazon declined to comment.

Walmart is Mexico’s largest retailer, commanding nearly 60 percent of the country’s supermarket sales through more than 2,400 Walmart, Superama, Sam’s Club and Bodega Aurrera stores. Its online business in Mexico is growing fast, but it represented just 1.4 percent of revenue last year.

Graphic – Walmart, giant of Mexican supermarkets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2I7GyA7

Amazon launched its Mexican website in 2015 and is now one of the country’s biggest online retailers. It began selling groceries here in August.

Supermarket analyst Bill Bishop said Walmart wants to avoid a repeat of its experience in the United States, where Amazon quickly took the lead in online grocery sales. Walmart Inc’s Mexico unit is its second-largest overseas market by sales after the United Kingdom, on par with Canada.

Graphic – Walmart’s top 10 foreign markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2HZqhgp

“They’re worried that Amazon will grow in Mexico,” said Bishop, co-founder of retail advisory firm Brick Meets Click in Barrington, Illinois.

“They’re saying: Be aware of the fact that we’re not going to make it easy for you to grow here,” he said.

The two Mexican suppliers who spoke to Reuters said they were caught in the crossfire. They said their wholesale prices were the same for both retailers, but that Amazon chose to sell their products to consumers more cheaply than Walmart did.

Instead of lowering its retail prices to match those of Amazon, Walmart took it out on them, the vendors said. Walmart docked their payments by the retail price difference, multiplied by the amount of stock in its inventory, a move that cost them tens of thousands of dollars collectively, the people said.

Both said they entered into talks with Amazon shortly afterward to drop their products. They said they could not afford continued financial clawbacks from Walmart. Nor could they risk losing their biggest customer, despite the huge sales potential offered by Amazon’s platform.

“It’s a threat, and it’s coercion,” one of the people said of Walmart’s strategy.

Emails between Amazon and one of the food companies, seen by Reuters, support the version of events described by suppliers. Two other people familiar with the matter who have expertise in e-commerce in Mexico gave similar accounts.

A cellphone message sent by another supplier to one of the e-commerce professionals discussing its woes with Walmart, reviewed by Reuters, likewise confirmed the situation.

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Experts say Walmart’s pressure on its suppliers in Mexico is unlikely to have legal repercussions. Miguel Flores, a former member of Mexico’s competition commission, said a government investigation into abuse of dominant market power would be complex, lengthy and hard to prove.

Mexico’s competition regulator declined to comment.

Walmart, the world’s largest bricks-and-mortar retailer, and Amazon, the No. 1 online seller, are vying for consumer loyalty worldwide.

Both companies have been pressuring suppliers for the lowest prices on goods from t-shirts to bicycles. And Walmart has spent big to build up its shopping website, delivery network and cloud computing infrastructure to compete with Amazon online.

Still, Amazon has raced ahead in online food shopping. It notched $3.4 billion in U.S. grocery sales last year compared with Walmart’s $2 billion in U.S. online food sales, according to Boston-based research firm Edge by Ascential.

Amazon’s grocery selection in Mexico currently is limited to non-perishables, such as coffee, beer, pasta and canned vegetables. Walmart offers a wider selection, including fresh foods such as lettuce and chicken.

Walmart brought its concerns about Amazon’s lower prices to a number of food suppliers in Mexico, including multinational firms, around the time that Amazon launched its food and drinks web page, said two of the people in Mexico’s e-commerce industry who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of business relationships.

They said some of the biggest firms figured out ways to appease Walmart, such as packaging their products for Amazon in sizes different from those sold at Walmart, they said.

But many of the smaller companies lacked the know-how to negotiate, they said.

Bishop, the supermarket analyst, said Mexican suppliers feel enormous pressure to stick with Walmart, at least for now.

“The dilemma is that Amazon is a very rapidly growing channel,” he said.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City; Additional Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Marla Dickerson)

Source: OANN

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Trump's Fed Pick Owes IRS $75K

Stephen Moore, President Donald Trump's pick for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, owes the Internal Revenue Service $75,328, reports The Guardian.

A January 2018 filing shows the U.S. government won a judgment against Moore for a federal tax lien valued at $75,328 for unpaid taxes, penalties, interests, and other costs in 2014.

Moore disputes the claim and said he was eager to "reach an agreement" with authorities.

"For several years I have been working through a dispute with the IRS, attempting to be returned what my attorneys and accountant believe were tax overpayments of tens of thousands of dollars," he said.

"It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve my country with distinction by being nominated for the Federal Reserve board, and I am ready to move forward with confirmation."

Trump last Friday announced plans to nominate Moore, 59, for a sixth seat on the board. He is still subject to confirmation.

Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, referred questions about the matter to his wife, Anne Carey, who blamed the judgment on a mix-up where Moore accidentally claimed alimony and child-support payments to his ex-wife as deductions. Only alimony is tax deductible.

"It was not an attempt at defrauding the U.S. government," Carey said, according to the Washington Examiner.

Source: NewsMax America

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Exclusive: Saudi court approves detained tycoon Sanea’s bankruptcy filing

People gather as Saudi authorities auction vehicles and other possessions belonging to billionaire Maan al-Sanea and his company in Dammam
People gather as Saudi authorities auction vehicles and other possessions belonging to billionaire Maan al-Sanea and his company in Dammam, Saudi Arabia March 18, 2018. REUTERS/Zuhair Al-Traifi

March 9, 2019

By Davide Barbuscia and Marwa Rashad

DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) – A Saudi court has approved an application by detained and indebted billionaire Maan al-Sanea and his company, Saad, to have their case resolved through the kingdom’s new bankruptcy law, the company’s financial adviser and two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The ruling in February could provide a resolution to one of the kingdom’s longest-running debt sagas.

Saad, with interests from banking to healthcare, defaulted together with another conglomerate, Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB), in 2009, leaving banks with unpaid debts of about $22 billion

Creditors have spent the past 10 years pursuing Saad, which is based in the city of Khobar in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, for claims that some observers familiar with the case last year estimated at between $11 billion and $16 billion.

“This is a landmark step for all stakeholders since 2009,” said Ahmed Ismail, the chief executive of Reemas Consultants, which was appointed as Saad’s financial adviser in late 2017 to find a settlement with creditors.

“The regional and international creditors represent more than 85 percent of total debt, some of whom advised filing under the new bankruptcy law,” he said.

“Given that it is more or less aligned with regional and international commercial law practices, the probability of its success is much higher.”

A commercial court in Dammam last month approved an application for financial reorganization under the terms of the Saudi bankruptcy law and appointed an independent trustee to oversee the process. Such decisions are not made public.

The trustee, Saleh A. Al-Naim, sent a notice to creditors – seen by Reuters – announcing the beginning of the financial reorganization proceedings, and asked them to submit their claims within 90 days.

Saad’s filing is among the first to be accepted under Saudi Arabia’s bankruptcy law, which came into effect last August and is part of the Saudi government’s efforts to make the Arab world’s largest economy more attractive to investors.

Until last year the main options for debt defaults were liquidation or cash injections. The law provides more options and regulates procedures such as settlements and liquidation.

Sanea, ranked by Forbes in 2007 as one of the world’s 100 richest people, was detained in Khobar in 2017 for unpaid debts dating back to 2009 when Saad Group defaulted.

In late 2017 a three-judge tribunal established to resolve Saad’s debt dispute appointed a consortium called Etqaan Alliance to liquidate assets owned by the billionaire by auctions in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, Riyadh and Jeddah.

Etqaan Alliance has already held three auctions for Sanea’s vehicles, warehouses and real estate assets. Sources told Reuters last month the auctions raised around 350 million riyals ($93.34 million).

“In addition to strengthening investors’ confidence with the local market, the new law will raise the value of the debtors’ assets, since they will not be obliged to sell for low prices through an enforced liquidation,” Ismail said.

“The realized value of the last three auctions was at 30 percent of market value in a normal buyer-and-seller market, which would have significantly jeopardized the recovery ratio for all creditors.”

AHAB, the other defaulted conglomerate, applied to begin a “protective settlement procedure” under the bankruptcy law, but in January the Dammam commercial court rejected the filing saying the company had not provided all the information needed as part of the law and its regulations.

AHAB said last month it filed additional information with the commercial court of appeal at Dammam’s commercial court, effectively appealing against its decision.

(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia and Marwa Rashad; Editing by Ros Russell)

Source: OANN

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UK’s Corbyn says social media platforms must act after New Zealand attack

Candles are flowers placed at a memorial site for victims of the mosque shootings are pictured at the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch
Candles are flowers placed at a memorial site for victims of the mosque shootings are pictured at the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 17, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

March 17, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Social media platforms must be able to react more quickly and stop the broadcast of live events, the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Sunday, after a gunman in New Zealand broadcast a shooting rampage last week.

A gunman broadcast live footage on Facebook of an attack that killed 50 Muslims in two mosques. The footage quickly spread across the internet and was still available on platforms including Twitter several hours later.

“The social media platforms which were actually playing a video made by this person who is accused of murder… all over the world, that surely has got to stop,” Jeremy Corbyn told Sky News on Sunday.

“Those that control and own social media platforms should deal with it straight away and stop these things being broadcast. But that brings into the whole issue of the question of regulation of social media.”

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper)

Source: OANN

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Global funds raise stock allocations and cut cash buffer: Reuters poll

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

March 29, 2019

By Rahul Karunakar

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Global funds recommended switching cash back into equities in March as stocks have recovered smartly despite some turbulence this quarter from a deep sell-off late last year, a Reuters poll showed.

While there are clear signs of a global economic slowdown with the latest data showing the U.S. economy growing more slowly than initially thought in the fourth quarter, most major central banks have turned dovish, providing the impetus for stocks to climb higher.

Reuters’ latest asset allocation poll of 40 fund managers and chief investment officers in Europe, the United States, Britain and Japan was taken at the tail-end of a more than 12 percent rally in the S&P 500 this quarter, which would mark its best quarterly performance since 2009.

Equity allocations accounted for an average 47.6 percent of their model global portfolio, from 45.9 percent in the previous month. That came at the expense of cash, which was cut to a four-month low of 5.8 percent from a more than three-year high of 7.2 percent in February.

Recommended bond holdings were also increased slightly to 39.8 percent from 39.3 percent in the previous month.

Investors and traders have been on heightened alert since the yield on the 10-year note fell below the three-month U.S. Treasury bill rate last week – widely seen as an indicator of a coming recession.

But the latest Reuters poll showed a clear shift away from the more defensive approach among long-term investors held over the previous months.

“The rebound in the stock market in the first quarter suggests investors became overly pessimistic,” said Alan Gayle, president at Via Nova Investment Management in Washington.

“We believe the risks of a recession near-term remain low, and that favorable developments in monetary policy and trade negotiations can provide positive support for stocks as we head into the summer.”

STUMBLING BLOCKS

The U.S. Federal Reserve left its federal funds rate on hold last week as expected, but its “dot plot” projections shifted and now suggest no hikes in 2019 compared with two in December.

A separate Reuters poll of economists concluded that the U.S. central bank is done with raising interest rates until at least the end of next year, with a significant chance of at least one rate cut by the end of 2020.

That comes after a similar Reuters survey which showed there is a significant risk the European Central Bank goes into the next economic downturn without having raised interest rates at all.

Nearly 85 percent of the fund managers who answered an extra question expect the upswing in U.S. equities to continue for at least another three months, including over 55 percent who said six months or more.

“Earnings expectations for equities are fairly low and valuations moderate. Another year of very supportive monetary and fiscal policy should provide support to higher price multiples,” said Benjamin Suess, director at UBS Asset Management.

“Clearly, there are potential stumbling blocks ahead … but as long as we don’t run into a recession over the next 12 months, which is our base case, we don’t expect a major bear market.”

When asked what is the most likely change to their portfolios over the next six months, more than 55 percent of asset managers who answered an additional question said they would roughly maintain their current risk positioning.

Over 30 percent of them said they would most likely reduce or take more defensive exposure to riskier assets or positions within the same asset class. The remaining said the most probable change would be to increase exposure.

“We are likely to continue to exploit risk rotation during the year, and take opportunities for some market volatility to add risk at more appealing valuations,” said Pascal Blanqué, group chief investment officer at Amundi Asset Management in Paris.

(Additional reporting and polling by Sarmista Sen in BENGALURU and Fumika Inoue in TOKYO; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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Dems Must Move Fearlessly Toward Impeachment

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WASHINGTON -- The constitutional case for impeaching President Trump was best made two decades ago by one of his most servile enablers, Lindsey Graham, now the senior senator from South Carolina:

"You don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body [the Senate] determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role … because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office."

The political case for moving deliberately but fearlessly toward impeachment is even clearer: If timorous Democrats do not seize and define this moment, Trump surely will.

What just happened is that special counsel Robert Mueller delivered a searing indictment of a president who has no idea what "honor" and "integrity" even mean -- a president who lies almost pathologically, who orders subordinates to lie, who has no respect for the rule of law, who welcomed Russian meddling in the 2016 election, who clumsily tried to orchestrate a cover-up, who tried his best to impede a lawful Justice Department investigation and failed only to the extent that aides ignored his outrageous and improper orders.

What Trump claims just happened is a "witch hunt."

Anyone who thinks there is a chance that Trump will lick his wounds and move on has not been paying attention. Having escaped criminal charges -- because he is a sitting president -- Trump will go on the offensive. With the help of Attorney General William Barr, whose title really should be Minister of Spin, the president will push to investigate the investigators and sell the bogus counternarrative of an attempted "coup" by politically motivated elements of the "deep state."

Here is the important thing: Trump will mount this attack no matter what Democrats do. And strictly as a matter of practical politics, the best defense against Trump has to be a powerful offense.

I fail to see the benefit for Democrats, heading into the 2020 election, of being seen as such fraidy-cats that they shirk their constitutional duty. Mueller's portrait of this president and his administration is devastating. According to Lindsey Graham's "honor and integrity" standard -- which he laid out in January 1999, when he was one of the House prosecutors in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial in the Senate -- beginning the process of impeaching Trump is not a close call.

It is also important for Democrats to keep their eyes on the prize. The election is the one guaranteed opportunity to throw Trump and his band of grifters out of the White House, and the big anti-Trump majority that was on display in last year's midterm must be maintained and, one hopes, expanded.

But that task will largely fall to the eventual Democratic nominee, whoever that turns out to be. Presidential contenders should be free to position themselves however they see fit on the impeachment question. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has chosen to single herself out by leading the charge. Others may choose to demur and focus instead on the kitchen-table issues, such as health care, that polls show voters care about.

But most Democratic members of Congress (believe it or not) are not running for president. Their focus has to be on their constitutional duty -- and nowhere in the Constitution does it say "never mind about presidential obstruction of justice or abuse of power if there's an election next year."

I have no intention of letting congressional Republicans off the hook. They have constitutional responsibilities as well, though it's clear they will not fulfill them. Imagine, for a moment, if the tables were turned -- if a GOP majority were running the House and a Democratic president did half of what Trump did. Do you think Republicans would hesitate for a New York minute? Articles of impeachment would have been drawn up long ago and stern-faced senators, including Graham, would already be sitting in judgment.

The conventional wisdom is that Republicans made a political error by impeaching Clinton. But they did win the presidency in 2000 and go on to dominate Congress for most of George W. Bush's tenure. If impeachment was a mistake, it wasn't a very costly one.

Does it "play into Trump's hands" to speak of impeachment? I think it plays into the president's hands to disappoint the Democratic base and come across as weak and frightened. Voters who saw the need to hold Trump accountable decided to give Democrats some power -- and now expect them to use it.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

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The headquarters of Wirecard AG is seen in Aschheim near Munich
FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of Wirecard AG, an independent provider of outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payment transactions is seen in Aschheim near Munich, Germany April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

April 26, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Wulf Matthias will not stand for a second term as Wirecard’s chairman in 2020, German daily Handelsblatt said on Friday, citing sources in the financial industry.

For age reasons alone this would not be an option for Matthias, aged 75, Handelsblatt added.

Matthias will keep his mandate until it ends in 2020, the paper quoted a company spokeswoman as saying.

Wirecard was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Thomas Seythal)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a bank in Geneva
FILE PHOTO: The Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a bank in Geneva, Switzerland, October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

April 26, 2019

ZURICH (Reuters) – Shareholders approved Credit Suisse’s 2018 compensation report with an 82 percent majority on Friday, overriding frustrations expressed at its annual general meeting over jumps in executive pay during a year its share price plummeted.

Three shareholder advisers had recommended investors vote against Switzerland’s second-biggest bank’s remuneration report, while a fourth backed the report but expressed reservations about whether management pay matched performance.

The approval marked a slight increase over the 80.8 percent support garnered for the bank’s 2017 compensation report.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Michael Shields)

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FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London, Britain December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Simon Jessop and Sinead Cruise

LONDON (Reuters) – Activist investor Edward Bramson is likely to fail in his attempt to get a board seat at Barclays’ annual meeting next week, even though shareholders are dissatisfied with performance of the group’s investment bank.

New York-based Bramson’s Sherborne Investors and the board of the British bank have been sparring for months over Barclays’ strategy.

Bramson wants to scale back Barclays’ investment bank to reduce risk and boost shareholder returns. Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley remains staunchly committed to growing the business out of trouble.

After failing to persuade Staley to change course since he began building a 5.5 percent stake in the bank in March last year, Bramson hopes a board seat will rachet up the pressure.

Both sides have written to shareholders pitching their case and Bramson has courted investors in one-on-one meetings, although none have publicly backed him yet.

Interviews by Reuters with five institutional investors in Barclays suggest Bramson has failed to persuade them.

Sherborne declined to comment.

Mirza Baig, head of investment stewardship at top-40 shareholder Aviva Investors, said Bramson was welcome on the bank’s register but the boardroom was a step too far.

“He has created a lot of value at other businesses, but, generally, when he has come in as executive chair and taken full control. This would be a different case where he would just be one lone voice on the board,” he said.

A second Barclays shareholder said he backed Bramson’s goal of improving returns but via an “evolutionary” approach.

“If you look at banks that have tried to restructure their operations in investment banking – you look at Natwest Markets, Deutsche Bank – I struggle to think of an example where a roughshod restructuring has been accretive to shareholder value.”

A third, top-30 investor said he had been impressed by incoming Chairman Nigel Higgins’ grasp of the challenge in hand, and felt investors would give him time.

“Management know they have to execute and deliver improved returns… [Higgins] will continue to re-shape the board but obviously he didn’t feel that having someone with a diametrically opposed view on it would be helpful.”

A fourth, top-30 investor agreed: “We voted for the chairman to come in and it would be crazy to allow an activist to join the board (at this time).”

Jupiter Fund Management, the 24th largest investor, said it also planned to vote against Bramson.

Barclays has nearly 500 institutional shareholders, Refinitiv data showed.

Since Staley joined Barclays in 2015, the investment bank returns relative to capital invested have increased but are still underperforming the overall business.

Barclays’ first-quarter figures showed the investment bank posted a 6 percent drop in income from its markets business and a 17 percent fall in banking advisory fees.

Returns in the investment bank fell to 9.5 percent from 13.2 percent a year ago.

Famed for successful campaigns against smaller British companies in sectors from chemicals to advertising, Bramson’s board seat pitch has been rebuffed by shareholder advisory firms.

Institutional Shareholder Services, the world’s biggest, said Bramson’s proposal “falls short of what can reasonably be expected from a shareholder trying to address issues at a 28 billion pounds, systemically important bank”.

Glass Lewis also flagged concern about Bramson’s lack of banking experience and “questionable” shareholding structure, referring to Sherborne’s use of derivative contracts to hedge losses should its strategy fail.

Critics said the arrangement meant his interests are not truly aligned with those of other long-term shareholders.

British advisory firm Pirc, however, said it recommended that investors abstain in the vote on Bramson’s proposal as a challenge to the board to do better in the year ahead – or face a similar contest in 2020.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/04/918/516/02_2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

After an over 15-month pregnancy, “Akuti,” a 7-year-old Greater One Horned Indian Rhinoceros, gave birth as a result of induced ovulation and artificial insemination at Zoo Miami, April 23, 2019.

Ron Magill/Zoo Miami

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/04/918/516/02_2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: File photo of a Chevron gas station sign in Del Mar, California
FILE PHOTO: A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Del Mar, California, in this April 25, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – U.S. oil and natural gas producer Chevron Corp reported a 27 percent fall in quarterly earnings on Friday, hit by lower crude prices and weaker margins in its refining and chemicals businesses.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $2.65 billion, or $1.39 per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, from $3.64 billion, or $1.90 per share, a year earlier.

Earlier in the day, larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp reported earnings well below analysts’ estimates, as margins in its refining business were hurt by higher Canadian prices and heavy scheduled maintenance.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Source: OANN

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