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U.S. likely to enjoy strong growth for rest of year: White House adviser

Hassett addresses reporters during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington
White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett addresses reporters during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

March 27, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy should enjoy strong growth in the second quarter and for the remainder of the year, with weakness overseas having only a limited spillover effect, a top White House adviser said on Wednesday.

“This year we’re looking at a weak first quarter. We still expect a strong second quarter and rest of the year, but the momentum from Europe and the momentum from Asia is much different than it was last year,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett told CNBC.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Asiana Airlines CEO Park quits after accounting fiasco, shares soar

FILE PHOTO: An Asiana Airlines Airbus A350-900 is seen at the Airbus delivery center in Colomiers near Toulouse
FILE PHOTO: An Asiana Airlines Airbus A350-900 is seen at the Airbus delivery center in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo

March 28, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – Asiana Airlines’ chief executive Park Sam-koo has stepped down from the post to take responsibility for the fiasco over its 2018 financial statements, its parent Kumho Asiana Group said on Thursday.

Park also resigned as CEO of Kumho Industrial, Asiana Airlines’ top shareholder, and as chairman of Kumho Asiana Group, it said in a statement.

“Kumho Asiana Group will launch an emergency management committee headed by vice chairman of the group to normalize our management in a short period of time and will hire a respectable person outside the company as the new chairman,” it said.

Park’s resignation comes at a time when Kumho Asiana is strapped for cash and is facing mounting debt.

The Korea Exchange suspended trading on Friday in shares of Asiana, South Korea’s second-biggest carrier, after an auditor declined to sign off on its financial statements.

Asiana Airlines got its auditor on Tuesday to approve the statements after revising its accounts that widened its annual loss. Trading in Asiana resumed on Tuesday.

The airline had two CEOs, and with Park stepping down, Han Chang-su remains its sole CEO.

Asiana’s shares surged as much as 15.1 percent on Thursday following news of Park’s resignation, while Kumho Industrial gained 8.2 percent.

(Reporting by Joori Roh, Cynthia Kim and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: OANN

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Former governor spent $22K on Trump hotel stays: report

Documents obtained by a Maine newspaper show the state's former Republican governor and his staff spent at least $22,000 in public money at a hotel owned by the family of President Donald Trump.

The Portland Press Herald reports Sunday that former Gov. Paul LePage and staff paid for more than 40 rooms at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., over a two-year period. The paper reports documents it obtained show the administration paid from $362 to more than $1,100 a night for rooms at the luxury hotel when in D.C. to meet with Trump or conduct other business.

Former LePage press secretary Julie Rabinowitz says the ex-governor is unlikely to discuss travel receipts because he might be deposed on a federal emoluments lawsuit. LePage was cited in the lawsuit in 2017.

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Lawsuit: Boy's foot crushed on Universal Studios' E.T. ride

A lawsuit claims an 11-year-old boy visiting from Brazil had his foot and leg crushed at the end of the E.T. Adventure ride at Universal Studios in Orlando.

The Orlando Sentinel reports the boy's mother Roberta Perez sued in Orange County Circuit Court and seeks at least $15,000 in damages.

Attorney Edmund Normand said it appears Tiago Perez's left foot got stuck between the ride's vehicle and the cement offloading area, breaking multiple bones in his toes, foot and leg.

The lawsuit claims Universal knew that the "design, manufacture, testing, construction and/or operation" of the ride "created an unreasonably dangerous ride."

The lawsuit noted that the child didn't speak English and couldn't read any warning signs during his visit to the theme park on Jan. 31.

Universal declined comment.

Source: Fox News National

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Japan Yet to Track Missing F-35, Officials Fear Jet Secrets in Danger

On Friday, Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya announced that the country’s authorities had launched an underwater search and recovery operation to retrieve the wreckage of a Japanese F-35 fighter jet that mysteriously disappeared from the radars during drills over the Pacific Ocean on 9 April.

Washington and Tokyo are yet to recover the missing Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) F-35A fighter jet as they have been conducting “a tireless, around-the-clock search” for the fifth-generation stealth plane since 9 April, Business Insider (BI) reports.

This comes as Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told the Japan Times on Tuesday that “the F-35A is an airplane that contains a significant amount of secrets that need to be protected.”

“With the help of the United States, we will continue to take the leading role in investigating the cause of the accident,” Iwaya added.

Earlier, he announced that Tokyo would ground the JASDF’s whole fleet of F-35A stealth fighters in the wake of the incident.


President Trump has made it clear he wants to bring the troops home, but the military industrial complex remains in control of America’s military policies.

The Japan Times also quoted an unnamed Japanese Defence Ministry spokesman as saying that the remains of the F-35 jet’s tail had been found but they were yet to track down the rest of the fuselage, as well as the pilot.

“On average two aircraft, including a helicopter, and two patrol vessels are constantly deployed in the around-the-clock search operations,” the official said.

The statement came after an unnamed Pentagon spokesman told BI that the US “stands ready to support the partner nation in recovery” of the missing warplane.

(Photo by Robert Sullivan, Flickr)

He also emphasized “how serious the US is about ensuring that [the F-35A’s] advanced technology doesn’t fall into the wrong hands”, BI reported.

The JASDF’s F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, while being flown by 41-year-old Major Akinori Hosomi, reportedly disappeared from radars on 9 April, 135 kilometers (84 miles) east of the Misawa Air Base located in the country’s northern Aomori prefecture.

The incident took place during a training flight involving four F-35A fighters; it is the first case of an F-35A crashing, as the warplane, introduced in 2016, has only recently come into service in various countries.


The attention span of the population has been shrinking for decades as the globalists seek even more control over the population. Dr. Nick Begich joins Alex in studio to expose the attack on our minds by Big Tech.

Source: InfoWars

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Peace deal in Yemen’s main port hits snag as U.N. seeks aid pledges

The convoy of a team from the United Nations and the World Food Program crosses from Houthi-controlled areas to a government-controlled areas to reach grain mills in an eastern suburb of Hodeidah
The convoy of a team from the United Nations and the World Food Program crosses from Houthi-controlled areas to a government-controlled areas to reach grain mills in an eastern suburb of Hodeidah, Yemen February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad

February 26, 2019

By Aziz El Yaakoubi and Stephanie Nebehay

DUBAI/GENEVA (Reuters) – A peace deal in Yemen’s main port city appears to have stalled again despite U.N. efforts to salvage the pact intended to clear the way for wider negotiations to end the devastating four-year war, sources involved in the discussions said.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres admitted at a pledging conference in Geneva on Tuesday, which seeks to raise $4 billion for Yemen, that progress has been slow in implementing a troop withdrawal in Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions facing starvation.

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement controls the Red Sea city, now a focus of the war, while other Yemeni factions backed by a Saudi-led coalition loyal to the ousted government are massed on the edges. Both sides were meant to redeploy forces by Jan. 7.

A timeline announced last week was missed. It was supposed to launch a phased approach whereby the Houthis would withdraw from two smaller ports within days, to be followed by a coalition retreat from the city’s eastern suburbs.

“It is not very clear why they canceled the withdrawal as the Houthi leader himself said they are ready to redeploy unilaterally,” one of the sources told Reuters.

Other sources said deep mistrust among the parties remained the main obstacle to forming a local authority that would run the city and ports according to the truce agreement reached at U.N.-led peace talks in December.

Houthi officials did not respond to a Reuters’ request for comment. An official in the Saudi-backed government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi told Reuters the Houthis do not want peace.

The office of U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday to salvage the deal, declined to comment.

Michael Aron, Britain’s ambassador to Yemen, told Reuters in Geneva he hoped the withdrawal would take place this week.

“It really has to happen …If there isn’t implementation of Stockholm, we’re not back to square one, we’re back to square minus one,” he said.

AID PUSH

The deal aimed to reopen humanitarian corridors and avert a full-scale assault by the coalition to seize Hodeidah port, the entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s commercial and aid imports.

Such an offensive could disrupt supply lines, risking a mass famine in the poorest Arabian Peninsula nation, which is grappling with the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.

A truce that came into force on Dec. 18 has largely held despite skirmishes on the city’s outskirts.

Guterres announced that a U.N. team on Tuesday visited a grains facility caught on a frontline where the World Food Programme has enough wheat to feed 3.7 million Yemenis for a month.

“For the first time in six months, finally it was possible for us to reach the so-called Red Sea mills…” he said. “So at least slowly some progress is being made.”

The war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, and ensuing economic collapse have left 16 million facing severe hunger.

Saudi Arabia announced a $500 million contribution at the Geneva pledging conference while the U.S. delegation promised $24 million.

Saud Arabia is leading the Western-backed Sunni Muslim coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis to try to restore Hadi’s government, which was ousted from power in Sanaa in 2014.

Western nations have pressed for an end to the war following increased scrutiny after the murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

The conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny receiving help from Tehran and say their revolution is against corruption.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Aden and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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Swedish ‘Islamophobia Expert’ Turned ISIS Fighter Arrested in Syria

Swedish-Norwegian “Islamophobia” expert turned Islamic State jihadist Michael Skråmos has been arrested by Kurdish forces in Syria, with sources claiming Norway wants to prosecute the extremist.

The 33-year-old, born in Sweden to Norwegian parents, was captured this week in the village of Baghouz in one of the very few remaining areas under any form of Islamic State control, Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.

Skråmo had been one of the hundreds of Islamic State terrorists still fighting Kurdish forces and attempting to defend the village. He was also not the only foreign fighter, with most of the last surviving holdouts being foreigners.

Though the Swedish citizen had told relatives that he would rather die than surrender, he was allegedly captured by the Kurds after surrendering to them following the previous capture of his seven children.

Swedish YPG soldier Jesper Söder described the capture of the infamous jihadist, saying, “He was arrested with a cluster of people. I think he was found in a cluster of people in a tunnel where he had dug himself in.”

Söder added that around 50 Islamic State members were arrested at once, including women and children.

Read more

Source: InfoWars

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is facing increased calls for her immediate resignation, remains in poor health and is not “lucid” enough to decide whether to step down, her attorney told reporters late Thursday.

Steve Silverman, speaking outside one of Pugh’s residences which was raided by the FBI and IRS earlier in the day, said the embattled city leader could make a decision as early as next week.

“She is leaning toward making the best decision in the best interest in the citizens of Baltimore City,” he said, adding that Pugh has “several options” to consider.

“She just needs to be physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions.”

BALTIMORE MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH, ON LEAVE AMID BOOK PROBE, HAS HOMES AND CITY HALL OFFICE RAIDED BY FEDS

Silverman said Pugh met with a doctor at home Thursday and plans to do so again Friday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the latest image-tarnishing scandal for struggling Baltimore, the first-term Democratic mayor faces accusations that she used children’s book deals to cover up kickbacks for favorable treatment as a state lawmaker and city leader that earned her roughly $800,000 over several years.

BALTIMORE’S ACTING MAYOR SAYS HE ‘WOULD HATE TO SEE’ EMBATTLED MAYOR RETURN AFTER BOOK SCANDALS

As a state senator, 69-year-old Pugh sold $500,000 worth of her self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks to the University of Maryland Medical System, a major state employer whose board she sat on for nearly 20 years.

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

UMMS reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018 with the stated intention of distributing the books to schools and day care centers. But some 50,000 copies remain unaccounted for and officials are probing if they were even printed.

Pugh also made $300,000 in bulk sales to other customers including health carriers that did business with the city of Baltimore.

BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL CALLS ON EMBATTLED MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY

The politically isolated Pugh slipped out of sight on April 1 after a hastily organized press conference where she called her no-contract book deals a “regrettable mistake.” That same day, Maryland’s governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of “self-dealing.”

Pugh took an indefinite leave of absence, citing her health deteriorating intensely after a bout with pneumonia.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)

On Thursday morning, agents with the FBI and IRS searched her two Baltimore homes, her City Hall offices, and a nonprofit organization she once led. The home of at least one of Pugh’s aides was also scoured.

Silverman said federal agents also served a subpoena at his law firm, retrieving Pugh’s original financial records. They did not seek any attorney-client privileged communications, he said.

Pugh’s attorney said she was “emotionally extremely distraught” following the searches by FBI and IRS agents.

“There was nothing incriminating that came out of her home,” Silverman said.

UMMS spokesman Michael Schwartzberg told reporters that the medical system received a grand jury witness subpoena seeking documents and information related to Pugh.

Other probes against Pugh include a review by the city ethics board and the Maryland Insurance Administration.

BALTIMORE MAYOR’S $500G DEAL FOR ‘HEALTHY HOLLY’ CHILDREN’S BOOKS DRAWS SCRUTINY

In recent weeks, the calls for Pugh’s resignation have intensified with the strongest voice coming from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who did not mince words after Thursday’s early morning raids.

“Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” he said. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall.

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Many of her fellow Democrats, including those on Baltimore’s demoralized City Council and state lawmakers, are also insisting that Pugh put the citizens’ interests above any attempt to preserve her political career.

City Council member Brandon Scott called the Thursday raids “an embarrassment to the city.”

However, only a conviction can trigger a mayor’s removal from office, according to the city solicitor. Baltimore’s mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.

Six of Pugh’s staffers joined her on paid leave earlier this month; three of them were fired this week by the acting mayor.

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Pugh came to office in late 2016 after edging out ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had spent much of her tenure fighting corruption charges before being forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal connected to the misappropriation of about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

She would certainly face a bruising 2020 Democratic primary if she were to return and run for reelection. Veteran City Council leader Bernard “Jack” Young, who is serving as acting mayor, said as she went on leave that he would merely be a placeholder. But this week, before the raids, he said “it could be devastating for her” if she tried to return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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