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AP PHOTOS: The most senior Catholic convicted of child abuse

The conviction and sentencing of Cardinal George Pell represent a remarkable downfall for the man who was Pope Francis' former finance minister and third-highest ranking Catholic in the Vatican.

Pell, the most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral more than 20 years ago.

He was convicted by a unanimous jury verdict of orally raping a 13-year-old choirboy and indecently dealing with the boy and the boy's 13-year-old friend in the late 1990s, months after becoming archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell was appointed Archbishop of Sydney in 2001, and Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 2003. Francis appointed Pell to the powerful position of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014.

Francis removed Pell as a member of his informal Cabinet in October, shortly before he was convicted of the abuse. He remained prefect of the Vatican's economy ministry, but his five-year term expired this month.

Pell also is being investigated by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which has the power to remove him from the priesthood.

Source: Fox News World

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Why Birthright Citizenship Is Rare In Europe

Luxembourg citizens voted in an election last year. But as The Economist has noted, “48% of those who live there were not allowed a ballot-paper.”

This is because a great many immigrants live in Luxembourg, but few of them quickly become citizens — which means few can vote.

According to the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX):

LU remains one of the most exclusive national democracies in the developed world, with the largest share of adults disenfranchised in national elections. According to 2013 OECD data, after 10+ years in the country, LU citizenship had been granted to only around 20% of the foreign-born, including among the non-EU-born, who are generally most likely to naturalise and see the benefits.

Not surprisingly, The Economist thinks this is a bad thing.

Nevertheless, few are claiming that immigrants are treated poorly in Luxembourg. Because of Luxembourg’s small size and integration into the European economy, Luxembourg is quite open to migrant workers, both from neighboring countries, and from further abroad.

Nevertheless, immigrants continue to flock to the country, and make up approximately 45 percent of the population. Moreover, 160,000 workers commute daily into Luxembourg from France, Belgium, and Germany — “Luxembourgers are only the majority in their country when the sun goes down.” In recent decades, many have become permanent residents.

Aware of complaints about a lack of more widespread suffrage in Luxembourg, voters in 2015 were given an opportunity to vote on expanding voting rights to foreigners in a referendum. 80 percent rejected the idea.

It should not be surprising, though, that many Luxembourg citizens are concerned that a sizable expansion of citizenship could bring about radical changes in Luxembourg through demographic shifts. A key strategy in slowing and managing this situation — while still allowing migration — is limiting access to citizenship.

A Case Study in Citizenship vs. Residency

The case of Luxembourg is helpful in illustrating how naturalization and immigration are two different phenomena. Clearly, experience suggests Luxembourgers are open to inviting in immigrants and working with them in a variety of economic ventures. Many live permanently in the country. The immigrants enjoy property rights and legal due process. A lack of access to political participation does not imply that it is legally or morally permissible in Luxembourg to treat immigrant property rights as forfeit. After all, immigrants have usually entered into legal contracts with employers and landlords to secure income, housing, and other types of property. Abolishing these legal rights could be disastrous for the local economy.

Moreover, the fact that the economy in Luxembourg depends on this openness to immigrants means the voting citizens are incentivized against enacting laws that might severely limit immigration or which would induce immigrants to avoid the country. Many Luxembourg voters likely are aware that — for practical reasons, if nothing else — it is not to their advantage to begin cutting off immigrants from their property. (It’s important to note virtually no one claims this widespread denial of voting prerogatives in Luxembourg constitute any sort of humanitarian crisis.)

Nevertheless, the response to Luxembourg’s practice of relatively open immigration — coupled with restricted citizenship — has some observers claiming the policy is tantamount to a violation of rights. Hence we hear charges of “taxation without representation” or the use of the often-loaded terms “disenfranchisement” and “democratic deficit.”

Should Citizenship Be Based on Location or Origin?

The idea that residents of a place ought to be quickly afforded full citizenship based on their current physical location, however, is far from universal.

Historically, policymakers, kings, and bureaucrats have long debated the criteria to be met in determining how quickly or how easily new residents ought to be offered naturalization.

For example, citizenship has been historically based on various criteria including residency, ancestry, promises of military service, and sworn oaths between individuals.

These criteria often fall into one of two legal traditions of naturalization: jus soli and jus sanguinis. Jus soli (“the right of soil”) is the principle that naturalization ought to be based on where one is located, and this often includes “birthright citizenship.” Conversely, jus sanguinis (“the right of blood”) is the principle that naturalization is based on one’s marriage, parentage, or origins.

Graziella Bertocchi and Chiara Strozzi have summarized the development of these two traditions in Europe and the Americas:

In 18th century Europe jus soli was the dominant criterion, following feudal traditions which linked human beings to the lord who held the land where they were born. The French Revolution broke with this heritage and with the 1804 civil code reintroduced the ancient Roman custom of jus sanguinis. Continental modern citizenship law was subsequently built on these premises. During the 19th century the jus sanguinis principle was adopted throughout Europe and then transplanted to its colonies. … On the other hand, the British preserved their jus soli tradition and spread it through their own colonies, starting with the United States where it was later encoded in the Constitution.

The rise of jus sanguinis in Europe, perhaps not surprisingly, coincided with the spread of ethnicity- and language-based nation states in the nineteenth century. This in turn led to greater concern over whether or not migrants could integrate into each nation’s linguistic or cultural majority.

Thus, jus sanguinis requirements became an attractive means of slowing down the process of integrating new citizens and of ensuring that new migrant groups would integrate through native parentage, marriage, or through long terms of residency.

Europe vs. The Americas

The situation was very different in the Americas, however. It’s not a coincidence that we find the Americas to be far more reliant on the concept of jus soli.

Bertocchi and Strozzi note:

At independence, most of the incipient states [in Latin America] chose jus soli as a way to break with the colonial political order and to prevent the metropoles from making legitimate claims on citizens born in the new countries.

This is true enough. But it’s also true that far lower levels of population density, coupled with perennial labor shortages, made jus soli both more practical and more attractive to states in the Americas.

As Edward Barbier illustrates in his book Scarcity and Froniers, the Americas have long been characterized by a strong need for more laborers to take advantage of the vast natural resources present across the regions often sparsely populated lands. This led to a variety of immigration policies in the Americas designed to increase immigration. Argentina and Brazil, for example, paid migrants from Italy to settle in South America. Via the Homestead Acts in the nineteenth century, the US government offered free land to new migrants. And across the Americas, of course, many laborers were imported by force via the institution of African slavery.

The most-preferred strategy, however, was often to simply offer easy citizenship to new migrants, and to guarantee citizenship for the children of migrants via jus soli provisions.

At the same time, migration across borders has often been a challenge in many areas of the Americas. Many South American states are separated by deserts, mountains, and dense jungle areas. During the nineteenth century, crossing the Andes mountains was not a simple affair. Similarly, the borderlands between the US and Mexico were largely unpopulated prior to the twentieth century. Mexico’s population was concentrated in the southern regions of the country, and migration north required significant effort. It wasn’t enough to simply reach the border, either. Access to jobs and capital usually required an even longer journey north or west in the American interior.

Thus, by 1929, legal scholar James Brown Scott could write: “there is no American country which accepts that principle [i.e., jus sanguinis] as the sole test of nationality.” Since then, as the relative ease of migration has increased in the Americas, some regimes in the Americas — including the United States — have been pressured to pare back the dominance of jus soli provisions, although little have been done in terms of substantive change.

On the other hand, post-World-War-II Europe began to move away from jus sanguinis provisions. While Scott could conclude that just sanguinis was largely absent in the Americas, he also found “There are at present seventeen countries in Europe in which jus sanguinis is the sole test of nationality.”

Part of this was due to the higher population density and geographic compactness of Europe. Moving between political jurisdictions has long been relatively easy in Europe, compared to the Americas. Since the mid-twentieth century, however, the trend has moved toward greater use of jus soli. As of 2010, according to a study by Iseult Honahan,

Ius soli citizenship is widely but by no means universally available in Europe. 19 European countries from 33 studied awarded ius soli citizenship at birth or thereafter. 10 of these countries grant ius soli citizenship at birth, and 16 after birth. … [I]us soli in its pure (or unconditional) form is not found in Europe since its abolition in Ireland in 2004.

There are, of course, a number of conditional jus soli provisions that exist. These can include automatic birthright citizenship for foundlings and stateless children. But many states have at least some weak jus sanguinis provisions requiring birth to at least one native citizen. Naturalization can occur outside of these conditions, but these provisions often require years of permanent residency, citizenship classes, and other mandates.

Honahan concludes that the trend in Europe “is towards the wider availability of jus soli citizenship” but with many conditions attached in most cases. Europe-wide, jus soli provisions occur across a spectrum, with more strict provisions present in Eastern Europe and Switzerland:

 

Returning to our Luxembourg example, we can note that Luxembourg employs a “double jus soli” standard in which children born in Luxembourg receive automatic citizenship only if one of the parents was also born in Luxembourg. Honahan thus classifies Luxembourg as a jus soli country, but as we have seen, the situation in practice is one in which citizenship remains significantly restricted.

It is important to keep in mind, moreover, that the relative restrictiveness of naturalization law does not necessary reflect the restrictiveness of immigration law.

After all, Luxembourgers are frequently outnumbered by migrants, even if citizenship is restricted. Similarly, Switzerland has one of the largest populations of foreign-born residents in the world, yet is highly restrictive in terms of naturalization. Norway is similarly restrictive, although its foreign-born population is equal to that of the United Kingdom, which employs a more liberal jus soli standard.

This mismatch between immigration policy and naturalization policy highlights for us the fact that immigration has never been merely a matter of economic relationships. For example, among laissez-faire liberals, both Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard recognized that there is no economic argument against immigration. The situation is different, however, when we consider matters of citizenship and political participation. In these cases, migrants expand their role beyond the private sector and into the political sphere. As Mises noted, this fact — that fact that immigrants are not merely consumers or workers — carries with it a variety of complicating factors around the question of who shall be in control of the state. The smaller the state, the less relevant this question is. But in the presence of a robust state apparatus — especially one that controls educational institutions and social-welfare programs — this question becomes far more important.

Apparently, Luxembourgers are quite aware of these facts and have decided to maintain and expansive immigration apparatus while limiting citizenship. On the other hand, thanks to geography and the legal traditions of the New World, many Americans have a skewed view of the alleged inseparability between immigration and citizenship. This has clouded the American debate over birthright citizenship.



Carpe Donktum was recently retweeted by President Trump, however that tweet was banned due to a musical copyright violation. Carpe Donktum joins Owen to discuss making meme magic about America in 2019.

Source: InfoWars

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Waters’ layup lifts No. 3 seed LSU over Maryland

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-Second Round-Maryland vs LSU
Mar 23, 2019; Jacksonville, FL, USA; LSU Tigers guard Tremont Waters (3) fights for a loose ball with Maryland Terrapins forward Ricky Lindo Jr. (left) and guard Anthony Cowan Jr. (1) during the second half in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The LSU Tigers won 69-67. Mandatory Credit: Matt Stamey-USA TODAY Sports

March 24, 2019

Tremont Waters made a tie-breaking layup with two seconds left as third-seeded LSU held off sixth-seeded Maryland 69-67 in an NCAA East Regional second-round game Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla.

Waters’ basket created the final separation in a tight game in which the score was tied six times in the last 6½ minutes. Defense dominated the game as both teams shot below 40 percent from the floor.

The Tigers (28-6), who edged 14th-seeded Yale 79-74 on Thursday, will face the winner of Saturday’s later game between No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 10 seed Minnesota in a regional semifinal next weekend in Washington D.C.

Skylar Mays added 16 points for LSU, Naz Reid scored 13, Waters had 12 and Darius Days 10.

Jalen Smith scored 15 points, Aaron Wiggins and Anthony Cowan Jr. scored 11 each, Bruno Fernando had 10 points and 15 rebounds and Darryl Morsell scored 10 for the Terrapins (23-11).

Smith’s 3-pointer tied the score with 28 seconds left and the Tigers called timeout eight seconds later. Waters, a sophomore guard who is LSU’s leading scorer, drove to the basket and made a scoop shot.

LSU led by as many as 15 in the first half, nine at halftime and rebuilt the margin to 15 early in the second half.

Waters had two baskets and an assist among the Tigers’ first eight points before the Terps made a move.

Cowan made two 3-pointers during a 13-3 run that pulled Maryland within 49-44.

LSU made just one field goal during a span of more than six minutes after Reid’s three-point play increased the lead to 54-45.

The Terps went on a 12-1 run to grab a 57-55 lead before the score was tied four times.

Mays’ 3-pointer gave the Tigers a 67-64 lead with 40 seconds left, but Smith’s 3-pointer tied the score 12 seconds later.

Days, Javonte Smart and Kavell Bigby-Williams did most of the scoring as the Tigers opened a 30-15 lead.

LSU led by 15 once more before Wiggins made consecutive 3-pointers to cut the lead to 38-29 at halftime.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Venezuelan expats in Florida back Trump's anti-socialism rhetoric, slam 'ignorant' AOC, Dems

DORAL, FLA. - Rosa Viller was living a nightmare in Venezuela. She loved her country but she couldn't take her kids Sharon and Alejandro to the park. In fact, she couldn't take them anywhere without bodyguards for fear they'd be kidnapped and held for ransom.

It was no way to live.

VENEZUELA SEEKS UN SUPPORT AGAINST 'MILITARY AGGRESSION' 

"My husband was very, very afraid of the situation," she told Fox News. "He told me, 'Rose, we have to leave. We have two little kids. We have good jobs... a nice apartment... but how can we raise our kids in a country without safety or laws?"

The only option was to go.

"It was the best decision we've ever taken," she said.

Viller, who now owns a successful dry cleaner in Doral, is among thousands of Venezuelans who have made South Florida their new home.

The economic, political and humanitarian crisis that has engulfed Venezuela under embattled President Nicolas Maduro has set off a staggering exodus in the Latin American nation. According to conservative estimates, more than three million people have fled in the past few years. The lucky ones like the Villers leave in cars and planes. The majority make the trek to neighboring nations on foot. Those who can't afford to leave or physically aren't able to do so are left watching in horror as their country crumbles around them.

DEADLY CRACKDOWN STOKES FEAR AMONG PROTESTERS IN VENEZUELA

"It hurts when I think about it," expat Alejandro Arrage told Fox. "My biggest fear is that it will happen here. They say it might... I hope, no."

Like several people Fox News recently spoke to in Miami and Doral, Arrage is committed to making sure "mini-Venezuela" doesn't turn into the real one.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have tapped into the sentiment. Both made separate visits to the area this month to deliver rousing anti-socialism speeches and have spoken directly to those affected by corrupt regimes.

On Monday, Trump told a large crowd of immigrants at Florida International University that the U.S. is "profoundly grateful to every dissident and every exile," adding that what happened in Venezuela "will never happen to us."

"A new day is coming in Latin America," he added.

"I have to believe him if I want any peace," Arrage said. "The things I have seen happen to my country haunt me every day."

The threat - however small - of the U.S. heading down a Venezuela-like path is enough for Mary Carmen Molero, who moved to Doral in 2014 with her husband and two children, to reevaluate her political leanings. 

The threat - however small - of the U.S. heading down a Venezuela-like path is enough for Mary Carmen Molero, who moved to Doral in 2014 with her husband and two children, to reevaluate her political leanings.  (Barnini Chakraborty/Fox News)

Venezuela's current problems are the result of a toxic mix of political corruption and widespread economic incompetence. Once among Latin America's most prosperous nations, two decades of socialist rule have left the country on the brink. The deepening humanitarian crisis has left millions hungry, without access to adequate medical care and a growing dread that Venezuela's best days are long gone. Even as his country struggles, Maduro and his inner circle have been widely accused of systematically plundering what remains of Venezuela's wealth to this day.

FEDS AUCTION OFF PRIZED HORSES OF EX-VENEZUELA TREASURER WHO GOT RICH AS SOCIALIST COUNTY CRUMBLED 

For his part, Trump has tried to tie domestic foes like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to the hellscape playing out in Venezuela.

"Who the hell do they think they are thinking Maduro is great or that socialism is great? Socialism and communism is fine in books. Karl Marx had wonderful ideas that will never work."

— Manny Sarmiento, president of the Doral Chamber of Commerce

From the early reviews, it seems to be working.

Manny Sarmiento, president of the Doral Chamber of Commerce, told Fox News he was deeply disappointed by the demonstrators in Doral protesting Trump's Monday speech at Florida International University.

"Who are those ignorant people? If you love socialism and think everything is great then why is everyone moving to Miami?", he asked. "(The protesters) aren't walking the streets in Venezuela. Who the hell do they think they are thinking Maduro is great or that socialism is great? Socialism and communism is fine in books. Karl Marx had wonderful ideas that will never work."

Molero owns the Super Arepa Doral in Doral, Florida. Venezuelan expats are now asking why demonstrators would protest Trump's speech Monday when the situation back home is in such disarray

Molero owns the Super Arepa Doral in Doral, Florida. Venezuelan expats are now asking why demonstrators would protest Trump's speech Monday when the situation back home is in such disarray (Barnini Chakraborty/Fox News)

He holds a special brand of contempt for Ocasio-Cortez.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ SLAMMED OVER ANTI-AMAZON PUSH IN NEW YORK CITY BILLBOARD: 'THANKS FOR NOTHING'

"I challenge her to step foot in Venezuela," Sarmiento said. "She wouldn't last a day. I challenge her to go to Cuba. Go there - and not just to the beach. It's pure ignorance on her part."

Viller agrees and says that politicians who preach the power of socialism do so without the knowledge of what it's really like.

"You have to know the history of the country and of other countries around the world and know about the effects of socialism and the consequences of socialism," she said.

The threat - however small - of the U.S. heading down a Venezuela-like path is enough for Mary Carmen Molero, who moved to Doral in 2014 with her husband and two children, to reevaluate her political leanings.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

"Right now for us, the Trump situation is changing," she told Fox News. "We saw him one way with the wall but now I see him as a different person. He's playing a role and sending a message that is so important for our country. It's so satisfying to see him... When he was saying that the United States would never be a socialist or communist system, I was like, 'Oh God, am I a Republican now?"

Source: Fox News World

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Lawyer objects to physical restraints on homicide suspect

A Milwaukee man charged with killing the mother of his child and suspected of killing their 2-year-old child appeared at a court hearing restrained in a wheelchair, shackled and wearing a shock device.

Thirty-five-year-old Dariaz Higgins is accused of fatally shooting 24-year-old Sierra Robinson and wounding another woman on March 11. The body of Higgins' daughter, Noelani Robinson, was found in a ditch in Minnesota four days after Higgins was arrested on March 13. Authorities say the child died from head trauma. Her death remains under investigation.

Defense attorney Alejandro Lockwood objected to the restraints at Thursday's hearing and his client "being treated like an animal." Court officials said Higgins has been acting up in jail.

During the hearing prosecutors added a charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide to the original charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety.

Source: Fox News National

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Malaysia’s ruling coalition loses state by-election as support wanes

FILE PHOTO: Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reacts during an interview with Reuters in Langkawi
FILE PHOTO: Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reacts during an interview with Reuters in Langkawi, Malaysia March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Feline Lim

April 13, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s ruling coalition lost a state constituency in a by-election on Saturday in a further sign of declining public support for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s alliance.

It is the third defeat for Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition, or Alliance of Hope, in local elections since it took power in May last year.

Its candidate, Streram Sinnasamy, lost the Rantau constituency in Negeri Sembilan state by 4,510 votes to Mohamad Hasan, the acting chairman of Barisan Nasional, the main opposition coalition.

Mohamad was appointed to the post after scandal-plagued former prime minister Najib Razak led Barisan Nasional to its first defeat in more than 60 years in last year’s national election.

Mohamad had won Rantau unopposed in 2018, but a Malaysian court later found errors in electoral procedure and called for a new poll.

His win is the latest blow for Mahathir’s coalition, which has faced criticism for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Polls consistently show that the coalition has been losing support among the Malays, some of whom fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away.

Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister who is widely expected to succeed Mahathir, had actively campaigned in Rantau in a bid to garner support away from Mohamad, seen as a highly popular figure among Malays.

Meanwhile, Najib, an active public presence during two previous by-elections, was largely absent on the Rantau campaign trial as he faced the first of several corruption trials earlier this month.

Najib is facing more than 40 charges of money laundering and other offences over the alleged loss of billions of dollars from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff)

Source: OANN

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Exclusive: Citgo, Valero try to return Venezuelan oil following sanctions: document

FILE PHOTO: Crude oil tankers are docked at Isla Oil Refinery PDVSA terminal in Willemstad on the island of Curacao
FILE PHOTO: Crude oil tankers are docked at Isla Oil Refinery PDVSA terminal in Willemstad on the island of Curacao, February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero

March 11, 2019

By Marianna Parraga

(Reuters) – The top U.S. buyers of Venezuelan oil are in the unusual position of trying to return millions of barrels of crude they need but cannot accept because of U.S. sanctions on the South American nation and its state-run energy firm PDVSA.

PDVSA’s U.S. refining subsidiary Citgo Petroleum Corp and Valero Energy are proposing to return 2 million barrels of crude loaded before sanctions, while a third U.S. oil company, Chevron Corp, has sought so far unsuccessfully to legally pay for 4.3 million barrels, according to an internal PDVSA document seen by Reuters.

In effect, more than 6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude remain in limbo as a result of U.S. sanctions imposed on Jan. 28 by Washington in an effort to oust President Nicolas Maduro. The United States and dozens of other nations recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s legitimate leader.

To comply with U.S. sanctions, Valero, Citgo and others are not allowed to pay PDVSA. Guaido’s administration has yet to establish its own bank accounts to receive proceeds from oil sales to U.S. customers, leaving those shipments stranded.

Overall oil exports from the OPEC member state dropped by about 40 percent in the first full month of sanctions, as the U.S. sought to cut oil revenue to Maduro, who presides over a nation beset by a years-long economic crisis, with millions fleeing for a lack of food and medicine.

PDVSA, Citgo and Valero did not reply to requests for comment. Chevron does not comment on supply and trade matters, a spokesman said.

STRANDED TANKERS

The standoff has stranded some 6.4 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude onboard 11 tankers originally destined for the United States, as they have not been authorized to set sail. The vessels fell into limbo because PDVSA demanded prepayment for the cargos after sanctions were imposed, which U.S. firms cannot do.

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil firm by market value, wanted to take the oil shipments in lieu of loans and dividends stemming from joint ventures with PDVSA, a person close to the matter said. The cargoes were loaded at Venezuelan ports ahead of sanctions, but they remain undelivered, according to the document, and it is unclear if PDVSA would accept that offer.

Valero proposed to pay PDVSA for 1.05 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, but that request was rejected by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which oversees sanctions, the documents said.

The Houston-based Citgo cut ties with its parent company in compliance with U.S. measures that halted its purchases of PDVSA’s oil, the documents said.

A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined to comment on the requests to pay PDVSA for the cargoes.

As of March 8, the 11 loaded vessels remained anchored off ports in Venezuela. Two other Chevron-chartered cargoes were stuck off the U.S. Gulf Coast and a third was returned to Venezuela’s Amuay terminal, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel-tracking data.

PDVSA does not expect Citgo or Valero to accept the cargos and intends to “commercially reallocate the volumes onboard so tankers can be freed,” a Feb. 21 trade and supply document showed. The same document expressed worry over demurrage fees – the daily cost for storing the oil on tankers – which have been accumulating for over a month.

PDVSA SCRAMBLES TO AVOID EXPORT SHORTFALL

Separately, a days-long blackout across the country has halted exports from Jose port, the nation’s primary crude export terminal. PDVSA on Monday was trying to restart operations.

The Venezuelan company has been forced to redesign its production and export logistics in recent weeks to avoid halting operations, including formulating new crude blends, swapping a large portion of its oil for imported fuel, selling through intermediaries and finding new customers.

But the efforts have not been enough to avoid an export decline. The OPEC-member country’s oil shipments fell to some 920,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

PDVSA exports could fall further due to a lack of imported naphtha, a light distillate, needed to dilute its extra heavy oil as the company has been able to secure only two 500,000-barrel cargoes versus 2-3 million barrels per month needed, according to the document.

If it cannot import enough naphtha to formulate its oil for export, PDVSA plans to start mixing other domestic fuels to ready oil for export.

Lack of maritime crews to take PDVSA tankers idled due to unpaid shipping fees is also hampering oil deliveries between domestic ports and to the Caribbean, where PDVSA stores and ships much of its export barrels.

Some shipping firms’ reluctance to work in Venezuela after sanctions have stopped PDVSA from using leased tankers to ease storage bottlenecks at its Orinoco Belt’s joint ventures. The ones willing to work with PDVSA are charging high prices and extra fees, the document added.

On March 4, PDVSA completely shut output at its Corocoro oilfield, which was producing some 12,000 bpd, due to lack of storage capacity. Its Pedernales oilfield could follow due to similar issues, according to the report. The four Orinoco upgraders were working at minimum on Monday.

(GRAPHIC: Venezuelan crude exports to U.S. refiners link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2t4ullS).

(Graphic: Top importers of Venezuelan crude link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2RYGk2E).

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; additional reporting by Leslie Wroughton in Washington and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Source: OANN

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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