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Analysis: WikiLeaks founder unlikely to be extradited soon

The battle between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the American government was always going to be epic, involving concepts like free speech, journalists' rights, national interests, even treason.

As Assange settles in to his first night in British custody , his allies and enemies alike are gearing up for what promises to be a long, dogged legal slog, not only over his possible extradition to the U.S. but over how U.S. courts should view his actions, which sharply cleave public opinion.

Yet in a way, Assange has been fighting this battle for much of the past decade. The struggle has taken him through a "mansion arrest" in the English countryside; a dramatic escape into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London; a multimillion-pound U.K. police siege of the embassy that has strained government coffers; and even a bizarre attempt to turn him into a Moscow-based diplomat.

Whatever happens now, one thing is clear: Assange, who was dragged out of the embassy and arrested Thursday by British police after Ecuador withdrew his political asylum, is not going anywhere soon. Extradition to the United States could take years more.

Assange's saga kicked off in November 2010, when his publication of 250,000 confidential U.S. diplomatic cables that month left American officialdom apoplectic. Joe Biden, then-U.S. vice president, compared Assange to a "high-tech terrorist." Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, called for him to be hunted down by U.S. troops like an al-Qaida operative.

Tempers at the top eventually cooled — Palin would later apologize to Assange after he began publishing material about U.S. Democrats. As a candidate, President Donald Trump startled many Americans by repeatedly praising WikiLeaks.

But in the U.S. intelligence community, the rage against Assange lingered. On the sidelines of a conference a few years ago, a former senior National Security Agency official told an Associated Press journalist that all he wanted was a couple of minutes alone with Assange in a dark alley, grasping his hands together as if he were crushing a man's windpipe.

Assange seemed to sense that the release of the diplomatic cables, which also enraged and embarrassed other countries around the world, were the point of no return.

It's often forgotten that Assange once traveled easily to the United States, appearing at the National Press Club in Washington on April 2010 to present "Collateral Murder," the title he chose for the camera footage that captured American helicopter pilots laughing as they fired at a crowd of civilians they mistook for Iraqi insurgents.

Shortly after his visit, his source for the video — an American Army intelligence analyst now named Chelsea Manning — would be arrested after an ill-advised online confession. Assange dropped out of sight, likely aware that the government now had spools of conversations between him and Manning, including the one that now forms the centerpiece of the Justice Department's newly unveiled indictment against Assange for conspiracy to hack into a U.S. government computer.

For a while, Assange gravitated to the Frontline Club in London, the convivial journalists' hangout where he dropped one media bombshell after another in collaboration with the Guardian newspaper and other media outlets. But staying in Britain, a close ally of the United States, was risky.

In a fateful move, Assange decided to scope out Sweden, a country with powerful press protections and where he had already located some of WikiLeaks servers. The expedition would prove to be a disaster.

Two women he stayed with there would soon go to the police with allegations of sexual assault and rape. The prosecution nearly tore WikiLeaks apart and threated the upcoming publication the U.S. diplomatic cables.

With Sweden out of the question and "Cablegate" sure to enrage the Americans further, Assange looked to Moscow. A document published by the AP last year showed he considered the idea of getting a Russian visa through his friend and sometimes WikiLeaks collaborator, Israel Shamir.

Assange would eventually get the visa, Shamir said later, but it came several weeks too late. Sweden had already applied for an Interpol Red Notice, something akin to an international arrest warrant, making travel all but impossible. That left Assange little choice but to turn himself in on Dec. 7, 2010, to British authorities.

Things only got more surreal from there.

Assange was granted bail at the country mansion of Frontline's founder, Vaughan Smith, receiving a stream of well-heeled and rebellious visitors in rural Norfolk while his London legal battle against extradition went all the way to Britain's Supreme Court. When that court finally turned him down, Assange dyed his hair, popped in colored contacts and skipped bail, fleeing to the Ecuadorian Embassy.

From there, he carried on as before, albeit in a more constricted space. When the AP visited him in 2012, he occupied a back room in the embassy scattered with laptops, some marked "Do not connect to the internet." When discussing an upcoming leak, Assange took this reporter into the corridor between his office and the bathroom, speaking in a whisper in a bid to baffle the high-tech surveillance thought to be deployed against him.

The embassy stalemate dragged on for years, costing the British government millions in policing costs.

But it didn't stop Assange from publishing new material, notably in 2016, when his disclosure of U.S. Democratic Party documents stolen by Russian hackers hurt Hillary Clinton's presidential election campaign.

But if Assange had hoped for leniency from America's new president, he would soon be disappointed. Twitter messages between WikiLeaks and Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., showed the group lobbying him to get his father to suggest that Australia appoint its native son Assange to be its ambassador to the U.S.

Instead, the Trump administration promoted him to public enemy; in a 2017 speech, then-CIA director Mike Pompeo described WikiLeaks as a "hostile non-state intelligence agency."

Meanwhile, Assange wasn't getting much more satisfaction from his Latin American host, which was increasingly embarrassed by its houseguest's publications. The government of Ecuador tried all kinds of creative solutions to break the embassy impasse, including an abortive attempt to send Assange to Russia under diplomatic cover. When it became clear that the WikiLeaks founder wasn't leaving — and that he wouldn't curb his publications to suit Ecuador's diplomatic interests — the government looked for a way to wash its hands of him.

Tensions had been building for more than a year, but the Thursday morning raid in London was still a surprise. WikiLeaks had issued one of its periodic warnings that Assange was at risk, but at a Wednesday press conference, his longtime lieutenant, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told journalists that Assange's eviction from the embassy had been averted.

It's not clear what comes next, but it'll almost certainly be complicated.

The interactions quoted in the U.S. indictment are nothing new — Assange's instant message exchange with Manning has been in the public domain ever since the latter's court martial — so Assange's high-powered legal team has had years to prepare their arguments. And Britain has generally tended to favor accused hackers fighting extradition to America.

Lauri Love, a friend of Assange's who was accused of penetrating U.S. government networks, was last year spared extradition after Britain's high court ruled in his favor. British hacker Gary McKinnon, accused of breaking into U.S. military and space networks, won his fight against extradition in 2012 after a decade-long struggle.

Assange's fight may not take a decade, but he's unlikely to see the inside of a U.S. courtroom anytime soon.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the arrest of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange here: https://www.apnews.com/WikiLeaks

Source: Fox News World

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Lady Gaga And Jeremy Renner Spotted Spending Time Together. Here’s What We Know

Katie Jerkovich | Entertainment Reporter

Lady Gaga and actor Jeremy Renner have been spotted out lately spending a lot of time together and it’s got everyone wondering if there’s a new power couple in Hollywood.

Sources close to the 32-year-old singer shared with E! News Thursday that while, yes, she “has been spending time with” the 48-year-old “Avengers” star, they are just friends, and it’s not “romantic.” (RELATED: Take A Look Back At Adriana Lima’s Career With Victoria’s Secret)

US singer-songwriter Lady Gaga arrives for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards on February 10, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)

US singer-songwriter Lady Gaga arrives for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards on February 10, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)

“[Gaga] has been friends with Jeremy Renner for a while. They often hang out when they are both in town,” a source shared. “She’s been spending time with him recently, but it’s not romantic.” (RELATED: Mel B Criticizes Lady Gaga For Oscars Performance With Bradley Cooper)

The news comes just one month after reports surfaced that the “Shallow” hitmaker and her fiancée Christian Carino had called off their engagement. (RELATED: Artist Goes After Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus With ‘We All Knew’ Posters Ahead Of Grammys)

Sources close to the “A Star Is Born” actress explained at the time that things just “didn’t work out”: “It just didn’t work out. Relationships sometimes end. There’s no long, dramatic story.”

The insider added, “But things just became serious very fast. Christian is a good, grounding force and understands her career.”

Gaga finally confirmed rumors that she and Carino were engaged in October 2018 after months of speculation.

The “Born This Way” hitmaker recently made headlines following her and co-star Bradley Cooper’s rather steamy performance of their film’s hit song “Shallow” at the Academy Awards, leaving people to wonder if the two had been intimate in real life.

As previously reported, she later addressed the rumors during her appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and said people saw love and that was the whole point.

“Yes, people saw love, and guess what? That’s what we wanted you to see,” Gaga explained. “[‘Shallow’] is a love song, ‘A Star is Born’ is a love story. It was so important to both of us that we were connected the entire time … When you’re singing love songs, that’s what you want people to feel.”

“I’m an artist and I guess [Bradley and I] did a good job … fooled ya!” she added.

Source: The Daily Caller

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Vatican upholds sex abuse conviction against Guam archbishop

The Vatican has upheld its conviction of Guam's ousted archbishop for sexually abusing minors and has added a further penalty on appeal.

The Vatican announced the definitive decision against Archbishop Anthony Apuron Thursday. In doing so, it revealed for the first time that he had been originally convicted of sexually abusing minors.

The Vatican confirmed that conviction and the original sentence, which removed Apuron from office and prohibited him from living on the Pacific island. And in an additional penalty, the Vatican has prohibited him for life for using the insignia of a bishop.

Source: Fox News World

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Spotify prompts Nordic pension funds to add private equity to playlists

The Spotify logo hangs on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange with U.S. and a Swiss flag as the company lists it's stock with a direct listing in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Spotify logo hangs on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange with U.S. and a Swiss flag as the company lists it's stock with a direct listing in New York, U.S., April 3, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

April 15, 2019

By Esha Vaish and Simon Jessop

STOCKHOLM/LONDON (Reuters) – A vibrant start-up scene, which has spawned stars such as Spotify, Skype and Rovio, is inspiring Nordic pension funds to invest more money with local private equity funds.

Managers looking to pump up their pension returns hope that this will plug them into the Nordic business world’s inner circle and help them to back the best prospects early on.

“With Spotify we got a call that maybe there were some shares for sale … We thought it was a great product so we said let’s dig into this and we made an acquisition with our friends at AMF,” Bo Selling, Alecta’s head of equities, told Reuters.

Swedish pension funds Alecta and AMF saw their 2016 investments in Spotify nearly triple in value when it listed in 2018. This success has helped fuel demand from other pension funds and encouraged some to change their investment parameters in order to be able to seek out the region’s next big hit.

As part of this shift, Sweden said earlier this year it will allow some of its largest state public pension funds, named APs 1, 2, 3 and 4, to allocate up to 40 percent of the about $140 billion they manage to illiquid investments, removing a 5 percent limit for unlisted instruments.

“We will most likely do more investments in private equity and venture (capital),” said Jenny Askfelt Rudd, head of alternative investments at AP4, which has about 3 percent of its assets in private equity.

Around a quarter of all assets raised in Europe so far in 2019 have gone to funds based in the Nordics, data from industry tracker Preqin showed, part of a global surge in demand that has seen total undeployed capital in the sector pass $2 trillion.

This is driven by institutional investors looking to shore up returns as global economic uncertainty roiled stock markets.

But it is not all one-way traffic. Last year, Norway’s government recommended against allowing its $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund to expand into private equity.

The ball is now in the hands of the country’s parliament, with the fund arguing the move could help improve its balance between risk and return, and naming Uber and Airbnb among missed opportunities due to the current restrictions.

For interactive versions of the graphics, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2Fby9bT and here https://tmsnrt.rs/2O77Fv9.

Norway’s sovereign fund posted a negative return on investment of 6.1 percent in 2018, while AP4 posted its second negative result since 2008 last year and warned it faced significant challenges in delivering returns at levels achieved in the past decade.

A Swedish parliamentary committee that worked on the pension rule changes found that where listed equities generated returns of an average 6.9 percent, alternative investments have delivered a combined 12.3 percent.

Denmark’s PFA, which runs 75 billion euros ($85 billion) in assets, is already active, growing its alternatives investments from 1 billion euros in late 2015 to 5 billion euros now.

“We have an ambition to grow that significantly over the coming years,” Peter Tind Larsen, head of alternative investments at PFA, said.

Despite concerns that demand is fuelling a valuation bubble, Selling said Alecta believes there are still opportunities to grow its private equity portfolio, with just 0.5 percent of its 860 billion Swedish crowns ($93 billion) in assets in unlisted equities.

“A good company with a good model and good growth prospects can be deemed interesting even if it is priced at a higher multiple on the earnings,” Selling said.

GET WITH THE PROGRAMMERS

On the flipside, private equity firms are seeking partnerships with pension funds to bump up the valuation of assets without having to seek a market listing, bankers say.

Independent Vetcare (IVC), Europe’s largest veterinary services firm, was valued at 3 billion euros when Alecta and AP6 – a specialist in unlisted investments – bought 20 percent in February versus the roughly 500 million euros EQT paid to buy it in 2016, sources told Reuters.

So far in 2019, five Nordic-based funds have raised a combined 4.2 billion euros in assets, 22 percent of the total for Europe as a whole, Preqin data showed. That compares with 16 percent last year and 6 percent in 2017.

For an interactive version of the graphics, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2VMu8jZ and here https://tmsnrt.rs/2Xeeaja.

EQT is the local sector leader and has seven of the ten biggest funds raised in the region, including EQT VIII, which last year raised 10.8 billion euros. Others include Nordic Capital, Altor, IK Investment Partners, Creandum and Northzone.

Much of their focus is on the region’s vibrant digital start-up scene. The European Digital City Index ranks Stockholm second to London in terms of support for digital entrepreneurs. Helsinki and Copenhagen also make the top ten.

“Being a programmer is the most common job in Stockholm, so it’s everywhere,” Ted Persson, operating partner at EQT Ventures, said.

Swedish payments company Klarna is seen by bankers as one of the hottest local firms to invest in ahead of a likely IPO, and pension funds seem primed to take a slice in its external fundraising this year.

Valued by bankers with knowledge of its recent internal fundraising at around 32 billion Swedish crowns, the firm counts private equity firms Sequoia and Permira, as well as rapper Snoop Dogg, as investors.

“A number of the largest pension funds have hired additional people with strong corporate finance expertise, and we … expect to see these funds taking the lead on larger transactions,” Klaus Thune, co-head of Nordic banking at JP Morgan, said.

(Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Deaths of California family in van that plunged off cliff reportedly ruled murder-suicide

A family of eight who plunged to their deaths last year when their SUV went over a California cliff died in a murder-suicide, a coroner’s jury determined Thursday.

The jury in Mendocino County unanimously determined that Jennifer and Sarah Hart killed themselves and led their six adopted children – Markis, 19, Hannah, 16, Abigail, 14, Devonte, 15, Jeremiah, 14, and Sierra, 12 – to their deaths in the March 2018 crash, according to The Associated Press.

MOM IN DEADLY CALIFORNIA CLIFF CRASH HAD TOXIC LEVEL OF BENADRYL IN SYSTEM, DRIVER WAS DRUNK, INQUEST REVEALS

The jury’s ruling resulted from an inquest into the fatalities.

The family was pronounced dead after their SUV was found at the base of the cliff, located north of San Francisco.

The bodies of the two women, as well as four of their children, were located and remains found in a shoe were identified as belonging to a fifth child. However, Devonte Hart’s body was never recovered.

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During the inquest on Wednesday, forensic pathologist Greg Pizarro said that Jennifer Hart – who was behind the wheel of the vehicle for the fatal crash – was drunk at the time and had an alcohol level of 0.102. Meanwhile, her wife Sarah’s body contained a toxic level of Benadryl, Pizarro said.

Fox News’ Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Gale force winds sweep across Croatian coast

Gale force winds have swept across much of the Croatian Adriatic coast, toppling trees, damaging cars and shattering windows.

There were no reports of major injuries.

Croatia's weather bureau said Saturday that gusts in the region of the Adriatic port of Split reached 191 kilometers per hour (118 miles per hour.)

Land, air and sea traffic have been disrupted and several small wind-driven fires erupted on the central Dalmatian coast. One firefighter was slightly injured while tackling the blaze.

Some streets in Split and surrounding towns have been closed because of flying glass and tiles.

Emergency services have received hundreds of calls from worried inhabitants seeking help.

Source: Fox News World

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Texas police officer, truck driver save teenager threatening to jump from overpass

A police officer and truck driver in Texas are being hailed as heroes after helping to save a boy who was threatening to jump from a bridge during the morning rush hour on Wednesday.

The Arlington Police Department said in a Facebook post the incident happening at the Kelly Elliott Road bridge over Interstate 20 after authorities were alerted about a teenager who was contemplating jumping.

"We wanted to highlight a call where Motor Officer Deric Sheriff came up with an ingenious plan to assist during a crisis intervention this morning," the department said.

VIRGINIA POLICE DOG DUBBED HERO AFTER FINDING CHILDREN LOST IN WOODS 'WITHIN 15 MINUTES'

Sheriff, a 17-year veteran of the department, was working a traffic stop nearby when he heard the call and rushed to help. As Sheriff and another officer tried to stop traffic on the busy highway, he directed a big rig to stage under the overpass.

“I was trying to find a tall enough semi-trailer that would work because there were a couple of flatbeds that would not have been of any use,” Sherriff told FOX4.

The officer was looking to reduce the likelihood that the teen would be seriously injured if he jumped by positioning several trucks with trailers under the bridge.

A police officer in Texas directed a semi-truck to under an overpass on Interstate 20 where a teenager was threatening to jump.

A police officer in Texas directed a semi-truck to under an overpass on Interstate 20 where a teenager was threatening to jump. (Arlington Police Department)

Body camera footage released by the department showed Sheriff's exchange with Dwayne Crawford, the driver of an 18 wheeler.

“As soon as I went under and started under the bridge, I looked up. The young man looks down at me, and I thought, ‘Oh, man. He’s serious,’” Crawford told FOX4. “As soon as I got under the bridge with my tractor and got the trailer under it, I felt a thump.”

TEXAS INFANT’S BODY FOUND IN FLOWER POT AT CEMETERY, POLICE SAY

As the first big rig was getting into position, the teen jumped and landed on top of the trailer.

“I feel good about it,” Crawford said. “The young man’s going to get help. The bottom line: he needed help.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson praised Sheriff's actions on Twitter.

"APD Motor Officer Deric Sheriff was instrumental in directing the truck driver before the teen jumped & later landed on the trailer," he wrote. "Excellent crisis intervention to help this teen."

Sheriff, who has six children, told FOX4 his idea to save the teenager came from his previous job as a truck driver. He also said he'll never forget saving the boy.

“That’s the whole reason 99.9 percent of us got in this job is to make a difference and to help,” he told FOX4.

If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

Source: Fox News National

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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