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U.N. agency works to clamp down on illicit shipping practices

FILE PHOTO: Italian marines check a crew member as they patrol the British Royal navy vessel Echo, during the NATO Operation Sea Guardian in Mediterranean sea, off the coast of Taranto
FILE PHOTO: Italian marines check a crew member as they patrol the British Royal navy vessel Echo, during a practical demonstration of boarding on a suspect ship, during the NATO Operation Sea Guardian in the Mediterranean sea, off the coast of Taranto, Italy September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

April 4, 2019

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) – The United Nations’ shipping agency is working on tougher measures to clamp down on rogue shipping companies trying to use flag registries fraudulently to conceal their activities, officials said.

All commercial ships have to be registered – flagged in a particular country – partly to comply with safety and environmental laws.

With international and U.S. sanctions imposed on countries including North Korea, Iran and Syria, some ships involved in such trade have used tactics to sidestep the measures including turning off their location transponders and falsely reporting their flag registry, also to secure insurance.

Drug and weapon smuggling are among other areas of trade in which front companies attempt to conceal their activities to avoid being detected.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed on a series of measures after a committee session last week which included the creation of a comprehensive database of registries and ways to improve information on the illegal registration of ships, the IMO said.

Other recommendations included enhanced verification of vessels through their unique IMO numbers and adherence to the requirement for an onboard record of a ship’s history.

The IMO will also work with the U.N. Security Council to create a searchable database that would show vessels subject to U.N. resolutions. The work is expected to be completed in 2021.

“Experience has shown that the raison d’être of fraudulent registries is to conceal illicit activity on board vessels, including activities prohibited by United Nations sanctions,” the United States said in one submission to the IMO.

Multiple countries have reported to the IMO that their registries had been used without the knowledge of the maritime authority for fraudulent purposes through fake documents or even maintaining the flag after it had been terminated.

Tanzania said it had experienced more than 20 cases of the fraudulent use of its flag since 2016, discovered after collaboration with other countries.

Ukraine, meanwhile, says shipments from Crimea violate Western sanctions and has complained to the IMO, asking member states to de-list any vessels involved. Crimea has been under Western sanctions since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in 2014.

In a statement to the IMO, Vitalii Moshkivskyi, Ukraine’s deputy permanent representative, pointed to “more than 80 ships unlawfully registered in the closed seaports in Crimea”.

Moshkivskyi said such activity had “grave implications for the safety and security of navigation”.

A spokesman with the Russian Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow; Editing by Dale Hudson)

Source: OANN

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Bernie Sanders speechwriter's 2013 op-eds: 'Let's hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American'

Back when police were vigorously pursuing suspects following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, a senior communications adviser and speechwriter with 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wrote, "Let's hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American" -- and then confidently doubled down hours later, in a separate piece entitled, "I still hope the bomber is a white American."

David Sirota, an investigative journalist and social media attack dog who has slammed Sanders' opponents in recent weeks, was formally brought into Sanders' campaign on Tuesday, along with a slew of other political veterans.

In his 2013 op-eds, published by Slate, Sirota attempted to argue that "double standards" in politics and law enforcement meant that a non-white perpetrator would lead to an unjust response.

The April 15, 2013, bombings, which killed three and injured dozens others, were perpetrated by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The Kyrgyz-American brothers invoked extremist Islamic beliefs and said American military actions had motivated them. Dzhokhar has been sentenced to death; Tamerlan was killed.

The "specific identity of the Boston Marathon bomber (or bombers) is not some minor detail -- it will almost certainly dictate what kind of governmental, political and societal response we see in the coming weeks," Sirota, who was Sanders' press secretary when he served in the House of Representatives, wrote.

The site of the second of two bombs that exploded near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon.

The site of the second of two bombs that exploded near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. (AP, File)

He added: "That means regardless of your particular party affiliation, if you care about everything from stopping war to reducing the defense budget to protecting civil liberties to passing immigration reform, you should hope the bomber was a white domestic terrorist. Why? Because only in that case will privilege work to prevent the Boston attack from potentially undermining progress on those other issues."

After accusing the American government of mobilizing "a full-on war effort exclusively against the prospect of Islamic terrorism," despite the existence of other terror threats, Sirota continued with a discussion of white privilege.

"I still hope the bomber is a white American."

— Bernie Sanders 2020 communications adviser David Sirota

"If recent history is any guide, if the bomber ends up being a white anti-government extremist, white privilege will likely mean the attack is portrayed as just an isolated incident -- one that has no bearing on any larger policy debates," Sirota said. "Put another way, white privilege will work to not only insulate whites from collective blame, but also to insulate the political debate from any fallout from the attack."

WHAT OTHER ALL-STAR HIGH-LEVEL STAFFERS DID SANDERS ANNOUNCE? 

Amid a fierce backlash on social media, Sirota largely restated his arguments in a follow-up piece and asserted that a "measured" response to the bombings would not be possible unless the attackers were white.

Police patrolling through a neighborhood in Watertown, Mass., while searching for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.

Police patrolling through a neighborhood in Watertown, Mass., while searching for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

"The reason ... to hope that the bomber ends up being a white American is because the double standard may prevent an overreaction to the heinous attacks in Boston," Sirota wrote. "Indeed, if the bomber ends up being a white American, there's a decent chance we will not see a redux of the post-9/11 period when we (among other things) initiated reckless wars, passed privacy-trampling bills like the Patriot Act, overspent on the Pentagon and targeted wide swaths of the population for surveillance/warrantless wiretapping.

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"By the way, you don't have to be a person of color or a political liberal to hope the bomber ends up being a white American," Sirota continued. "You just have to be among the groups of Americans who don't like stuff like pre-emptive wars, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, the drone war, an unsustainable Pentagon budget and a broken immigration system. By their own rhetoric, some of those groups must include many self-described conservatives -- after all, they purport to care about civil liberties and say they want to reduce government spending."

Neither Sirota nor Sanders' campaign responded to Fox News' request for comment.

Sirota has a history of no-holds-barred rhetoric, and was apparently using his skills on Sanders' behalf even before he was officially brought aboard the campaign on Tuesday.

An analysis by The Atlantic found that Sirota apparently scrubbed his social media profiles, including more than 20,000 tweets, on Tuesday after the magazine asked him questions about his aggressive posts blasting Sanders' Democrat opponents -- without disclosing that he had any affiliation with Sanders' campaign. Sirota was, at the time, working as an "investigative journalist" for his website Capital & Main.

Sirota, according to The Atlantic, blamed an "autodeleter" for the missing tweets, and said he was taking care of a sick child and could not respond to inquiries on Tuesday.

Despite that purported inconvenience, Sirota "did post a photo on Twitter of himself bowling on Monday evening, wearing a turkey hat," The Atlantic noted.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Netherlands tram shooting results in 'multiple' injuries, police say

A shooting inside a Netherlands tram on Monday resulted in "multiple" injuries, police said, and it wasn't immediately clear if authorities had a suspect in custody.

The shooting occurred around 10:45 a.m. local time in the Dutch city of Utrecht, located about 22 miles southeast of Amsterdam, local police said.

"Multiple people have been injured. The surrounding area has been cordoned off and we are investigating the matter," police in Utrecht said.

Photos and descriptions from the scene indicated police had closed off a square near the Utrecht tram station.

Trauma helicopters had been sent to the scene, the Associated Press reported.

This is a developing story; check back for updates. 

Source: Fox News World

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Venezuelan government targets Guaido over national blackout

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is under investigation for the alleged sabotage of the country's power grid, the chief prosecutor said Tuesday, as the government sought to pressure an adversary who blames corruption and mismanagement for nearly a week of national blackouts.

The announcement by Tarek William Saab, Venezuela's attorney general, escalated the confrontation between the government and Guaido even as the United States, a key backer of the opposition leader, said it was withdrawing its last diplomats in Caracas. The U.S. has dismissed Venezuelan government accusations that it triggered the power crisis with a "cyberattack."

Guaido is already under investigation for alleged instigation of violence, but authorities have not tried to detain the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly since he violated a travel ban and then returned a week ago from a tour of Latin American countries.

Saab said the case against Guaido also involves messages allegedly inciting people to robbery and looting during power outages. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez appeared on national television to condemn "Guaido and his gang" for their alleged attempt to cut the power as a way of fomenting chaos and toppling President Nicolas Maduro.

Rodriguez said the power grid had been almost completely restored and that water service was also returning. More neighborhoods of Caracas had power on Tuesday morning. But anecdotal reports indicated continuing outages for many Venezuelans, who were already suffering from hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine.

On Tuesday, long lines of people converged at springs in the mountains of Caracas to collect water in bottles because water pumps have been failing during the power outages. Venezuelans usually use debit cards to pay for food and other necessities since hyperinflation has rendered the national currency, the bolivar, nearly worthless. But the cards haven't worked because of the blackouts, forcing people to scrounge for scarce cash and search for the few shops that were open.

Schools and many businesses remained closed on Tuesday. There were widespread reports of looting on Monday in the city of Maracaibo.

Adding to tension over Venezuela's fate, the last U.S. diplomats in Venezuela prepared to head home as relations between the United States and Maduro deteriorated further.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted late Monday that the U.S., which recognizes Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, was withdrawing the remaining diplomats because their continued presence in Caracas had become a "constraint" on U.S. policy as it campaigns to oust Maduro.

"We made the decision yesterday that it just was prudent to get these folks back," Pompeo said Tuesday in an interview with KTRH, a Houston radio station.

"The situation there is deteriorating," he said. "The Maduro regime's horrific leadership over the last years has just made life there so difficult, it began to make it more difficult for the United States to take the actions that it needed to do to support the Venezuelan people. So we concluded this was simply the right step to take and this was the right time to take it."

The Venezuelan government early Tuesday disputed Pompeo's account, saying it had instructed the diplomats to leave within 72 hours. Their presence "entails risks for the peace, integrity and stability of the country," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said.

"These are the same officials that have systematically lied to the world about Venezuela's reality and personally have directed fake, flag-waving operations to justify an intervention," he said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said "all options are on the table" in his administration's support for Guaido, who says Maduro is an illegitimate leader and must resign so that Venezuela can hold elections. Maduro accuses Guaido and the United States of plotting an invasion.

Maduro's government in January cut ties with the U.S. over its recognition of Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader. U.S. officials rejected that on the rationale that Maduro had no authority to take such a step.

Venezuela later retreated and allowed a skeletal staff to remain at the hilltop U.S. Embassy in Caracas as the two countries attempted — in vain — to negotiate an agreement to allow some sort of representation.

Source: Fox News World

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Ecuador holding Swedish programmer linked to Assange in custody

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a police van, after he was arrested by British police, in London
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a police van, after he was arrested by British police, in London, Britain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

April 12, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – Ecuador said on Friday it is holding a programmer linked to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in custody pending possible charges of interfering in private communications, a day after ending Assange’s seven-year asylum in its London embassy.

Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said prosecutors could file charges against Ola Bini, who she said lives in Ecuador and had visited Assange in the London embassy a dozen times.

President Lenin Moreno in recent weeks had accused WikiLeaks and Assange of violating his privacy by publishing family photos of him. WikiLeaks denies the accusation, and says Moreno was trying to stifle reporting of corruption allegations against him.

“He is detained for the purposes of investigation. This is a detention that took place in recent hours, ordered by judges of course, and requested by state prosecutors,” Romo said in televised comments. “This person is very close to WikiLeaks.”

Romo, who on Thursday had announced the detention of an unidentified individual, did not provide further details.

On his website, Bini describes himself as a software developer who works for the Quito-based Center for Digital Autonomy, which focuses on digital privacy and security. The site does not mention WikiLeaks.

Bini and the Center for Digital Autonomy did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Romo said the government had information that Bini had traveled on several occasions with Ricardo Patino, who was Ecuador Foreign Minister when Assange was granted asylum in 2012 during the government of former President Rafael Correa.

Patino via Twitter said he does not know Bini.

Romo said two Russian citizens were also under investigation but had not been arrested.

Moreno’s government accused WikiLeaks of being behind an anonymous website that said Moreno’s brother had created offshore companies that his family used to fund a luxurious lifestyle in Europe while Moreno was a delegate to a United Nations agency.

Moreno, who was Correa’s vice president but fell out with him after taking office in 2017, denies wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia and Jose Llangari; Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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U.S. top court rejects ex-congressman’s appeal in spending scandal

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Republican lawmakers Lummis and Schock arrive at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Republican lawmakers Cynthia Lummis (in red) and Aaron Schock (wearing a garland) arrive at the Gandhi Ashram in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 28, 2013. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

February 19, 2019

By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by Republican former congressman Aaron Schock, who resigned in 2015 amid questions about spending on his lavish “Downton Abbey”-inspired Washington office, to escape charges accusing him of defauding the government while a member of the House of Representatives.

The justices declined to hear Schock’s appeal of a lower court’s refusal to throw out an indictment against the 37-year-old former lawmaker from Illinois after he argued the charges violated U.S. constitutional protections for members of Congress.

Schock is scheduled to go on trial in June on charges including wire fraud, theft of government funds and filing false federal income tax returns.

Schock, elected to the House in 2008 at age 27, drew attention by posting photos on social media of his travels around the world. He was featured shirtless on the cover of Men’s Health magazine in 2011, touted as “America’s Fittest Congressman!”

His expenditures came under scrutiny after a Washington Post report about lavish decorations in his Capitol Hill office based on the popular PBS period melodrama “Downton Abbey.” He resigned in 2015.

A grand jury issued a 24-count indictment in 2016 accusing him of defrauding the federal government and campaign committees. Two counts were later dismissed by a judge in Springfield, Illinois.

According to the indictment, Schock enriched himself by submitting false reimbursement claims worth tens of thousands of dollars related to travel, camera equipment, furniture and decorations, and other purchases.

The indictment noted that Schock’s office redecoration included the purchase of a $5,000 chandelier and that decorating expenses are reimbursable only if they are of “nominal value.”

Schock sought to get the indictment dismissed, arguing that prosecutors exceeded their authority in charging him and citing the Constitution’s protections for lawmakers’ independence that allow Congress to make its own rules and bars prosecution for conduct in the legislative role.

The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Schock’s arguments in May 2018. That court found that the charges did not relate to “speeches, debates, or any other part of the legislative process” and that protections relating to the Constitution’s separation of powers among the three branches of the U.S. government did not offer “a personal immunity from prosecution or trial.”

Schock urged the high court to take the case, suggesting that the threat to the separation of powers was significant. He also said the House’s reimbursement rules were ambiguous.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: OANN

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Suspect charged after girl helps find man in car trunk

A suspect has been charged with robbery and kidnapping a day after a girl walking her dog heard a man screaming from the trunk of a car and helped rescue him.

JaVohn Berrouet was arrested at his Irvington, New Jersey, home Thursday night.

The Union County prosecutor's office says investigators recovered a ski mask and .45-caliber handgun from the 24-year-old's residence.

Police say two armed men kidnapped the victim around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Hillside, near Newark, and forced him to withdraw cash from ATMs.

The girl came upon the victim after hearing his screams from a trunk on Thursday morning.

Berrouet is charged with carjacking, kidnapping, robbery and weapons offenses. He was being held at Union County Jail pending an initial court appearance.

Attorney information could not be found for Berrouet.

Source: Fox News National

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Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta
Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis

April 26, 2019

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.

The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.

Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.

The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.

Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.

“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.

“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”

Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.

One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.

The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.

Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.

The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.

A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.

(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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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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