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Politico: IG Report on Carter Page Warrant Aims to ‘Undermine’ Christopher Steele

The Justice Department’s inspector general has been scrutinizing the FBI’s use of information from the Steele dossier to conduct surveillance on President Donald Trump and his associates from his 2016 presidential campaign and will release his report as soon as next month, Politico reports.

IG Michael Horowitz has been examining the FBI for close to a year and is investigating whether the agency possibly abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in October 2016 when it pulled a FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page based in part on information from Christopher Steele, a British ex-spy who claimed he was told by sources that Page and other Trump associates were working with Russians to help Trump win the election and boost Trump’s businesses.

The IG is reportedly focused on gauging Steele’s credibility as a source for the FBI, and the report “is going to try and deeply undermine Steele,” according to a source who spoke with Politico.

FISA allows U.S. agencies to secretly intercept a target's communications with court approval.

Horowitz is also looking into whether FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who exchanged anti-Trump text messages while working on the Russia investigation, were guided by politics in their official actions.

Trump has long slammed the dossier as “phony” and a “con job.”

The dossier was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017, after the election.

Steele was being paid for his research by Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that was funded in part by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.


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Source: NewsMax Politics

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Fed minutes weigh on dollar, pound numb to Brexit extension

FILE PHOTO: A packet of Lincoln five dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington
FILE PHOTO: A packet of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln five-dollar bill currency is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron/File Photo

April 11, 2019

By Hideyuki Sano

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar held near two-week lows on Thursday as Federal Reserve minutes reinforced dovish policy expectations while the pound held recent ranges after European leaders extended the deadline for Britain to leave the union, averting a no-deal Brexit.

Currency markets are also awaiting a blast of economic data from the world’s second-largest economy with March Chinese trade figures due on Friday and first quarter gross domestic product due next week.

The U.S. dollar lacked momentum, with its index against six other currencies hovering near a two-week low, after the minutes from the Fed’s last meeting enhancing expectations of a dovish policy stance.

The British pound traded at $1.3095, unchanged on the day and staying in a triangle holding pattern between $1.2945 and $1.3380 during the past month or so.

The EU kicked the can on Brexit down the road for the second time in less than a month, making sure Britain will not crash out of the bloc on Friday, a scenario that many market players have been expecting.

Still, the decision did little to boost clarity on exactly how, when, or even if at all, the UK will leave the EU, keeping the pound in check.

The dollar index last stood at 96.900, having slipped to a two-week low of 96.823 on Wednesday.

The minutes from the Fed’s March 19-20 policy meeting confirmed the central bank is likely to leave interest rates unchanged this year.

U.S. central bankers also debated possible policy moves the Fed could make after it ended its balance sheet reduction program by September, with some advocating purchases of U.S. Treasury securities at that point.

“Some people say the minutes contained few surprises but a close look suggests the Fed is likely to become more dovish as time goes by,” said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.

The U.S. consumer price data released on Wednesday also painted a mixed picture, with annual core CPI inflation slipping to 2.0 percent in March, the smallest increase since February 2018.

The dollar slipped to 110.95 yen, having fallen 0.68 percent so far this week.

The dollar also quickly lost its gain against the euro made after European Central Bank Mario Draghi underscored the risks facing the euro zone economy.

The ECB left its ultra-easy stance unchanged as expected on Wednesday and Draghi said economic data is weak.

He also confirmed the ECB was considering if measures were needed to mitigate the impact on banks of its negative deposit rates as well as the pricing of new cheap two-year loans to banks.

The euro last held at $1.1276, recovering from Wednesday’s low of $1.22295, keeping intact its slow uptrend from $1.1183 touched on April 2.

It is up 0.52 percent so far, which will be its first weekly gains in four weeks if sustained.

The Australian dollar stood at $0.7169, having hit a six-week high of $0.7175 as concerns about slowdown in China ease.

(Editing by Sam Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Woman who accused Chinese billionaire Liu of rape sues

A woman who says JD.com founder Richard Liu raped her in Minneapolis is suing the Chinese billionaire and his company.

The woman is a student at the University of Minnesota. She sued Liu on Tuesday, alleging that he raped her at her apartment.

Liu was arrested Aug. 31 in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape and released within hours. He had been attending a weeklong residency as part of the University of Minnesota's doctor of business administration China program.

Prosecutors announced in December that Liu would not face criminal charges because they could not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Liu's attorneys said at the time that his arrest was based on a false claim.

Source: Fox News National

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Donald Trump Jr. appears to mock Joe Biden by retweeting doctored video

Donald Trump Jr. appeared to mock Joe Biden by retweeting a doctored video of the former vice president addressing a series of misconduct allegations leveled against him.

Trump Jr., 41, retweeted the 15-second doctored footage of Biden Wednesday in which he acknowledged his tendency toward physical displays of affection and encouragement have made some women uncomfortable and he promised to be “much more mindful” of respecting personal space.

Biden is seen sitting and talking in the doctored video, while a viral photo of the ex-VP placing his hands on the shoulders of former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s wife, Stephanie Carter, is seen lurking in the background. The tweet was captioned, “Noooooooo Joe, NOT DURING THE APOLOGY!"

TRUMP JR. CALLS MAINSTREAM  MEDIA 'A BLIGHT ON OUR REPUBLIC'

Following the news, the photographs of Biden with Carter made their way back into the public eye, Carter wrote a post on Medium defending Biden and saying the photos were “misleading.”

“But a still shot taken from a video — misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends — sent out in a snarky tweet — came to be the lasting image of that day,” she wrote.

DONALD TRUMP JR. COMPARES BUZZFEED COVERAGE TO CATHOLIC HS CONFRONTATION, SAYS SCHIFF LEAKING

The video was Biden’s first direct comment on what has tripped up his preparations to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. He did not directly apologize but seemed to be seeking to ease some people's discomfort, which has raised questions about whether he could wage an effective campaign.

Last week, former Nevada Lt. Gov. candidate Lucy Flores accused Biden of inappropriate conduct during a 2014 campaign event, saying Biden “plant[ed] a big slow kiss on the back of my head.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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FBI partnership puts dent in sexual assault evidence backlogs

The FBI calls it "one of the most difficult and complex issues facing our nation’s criminal justice system."

Growing stockpiles of untested sexual assault evidence kits have been plaguing U.S. law enforcement for decades, and the FBI and the National Institute of Justice just wrapped up a massive, years-long partnership to hopefully make this problem a thing of the past.

Five years ago, the two government agencies teamed up with local law enforcement to tackle the issue, and chip away at the massive backlogs of untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs) that have been creating headaches for crime-solvers nationwide.

After a reported sexual assault, evidence for a SAK is collected and stored. This can sometimes consist of a single piece of evidence, or upwards of a dozen, and getting actual results is nothing like what you see on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

"It's not about testing kits, it's about solving cases."

— Kim Murga, Director, Las Vegas Metro Police Crime Lab

The costs, and the painstaking process of testing them has contributed to thousands of SAKs sitting on evidence shelves across the country without ever being tested. Some of them can date as far back as nearly half a century.

In 2014, the director of the Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences at the National Institute of Justice, Gerry LaPorte, decided it was time to start trying to get ahead of the decades-long dilemma.

LaPorte set out to not only try and improve methods for testing SAKs, in the hopes of increasing efficiency in local laboratories, but to actually test some of these kits for local agencies, as well.

Finding a partner in this effort, LaPorte said, was a different story. Thankfully, the FBI Laboratory division said it was willing to chip in "within about 30 seconds."

A memorial stone outside of the FBI Laboratory division building at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA. (Fox News/Alex Diaz)

A memorial stone outside of the FBI Laboratory division building at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA. (Fox News/Alex Diaz)

Under the NIJ-FBI Sexual Assault Kit Partnership, local law enforcement agencies could send SAKs to be tested free of charge. In addition to the free testing, the NIJ and FBI would use those kits, and the hours spent testing them, to create new best practices that local laboratories could use to streamline their own testing.

The volume of the backlog itself wasn't the only issue, although the number of untested kits did number in the tens of thousands. "These are Sexual Assault Kits that go back sometimes into the 1970's," LaPorte told Fox.

Despite the uphill battle involved in testing thousands of kits, while also trying to streamline the testing process itself, the efforts seem to have paid off.

The FBI laboratory alone tested some 3,600 kits and found they had matches for more than 800 suspects whose DNA profiles were already in the national database known as CODIS. That was in addition to the nearly 2,000 new entries they put into the system.

Beyond the FBI lab's efforts, the partnership itself produced even more staggering numbers. Thanks to grants provided to the partnership by the DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), more than 60,000 kits were inventoried, nearly 40,000 more were tested to completion, and a total of nearly 14,000 new individuals were entered into CODIS.

For the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. crime lab, one of the first agencies to team up with the FBI/NIJ, the partnership was the catalyst that has helped eliminate a decades-old backlog in just five years.

After starting off with an identified backlog that was just shy of 10,000 kits, "we have a little over 300 remaining, but all of the testing is in progress and should be completed in the next couple of months," said Kim Murga, the LVMPD director of laboratory services.

TESTING OF 100K BACKLOGGED RAPE KITS LEADS TO 1,000 ARRESTS

Over the course of testing the backlogged kits in her laboratory, Murga and her team matched DNA to suspects in 17 different states. One of the matches they turned up resulted in the arrest of a former city police officer, who has now been charged as a suspect in a cold case murder dating back to the '90s.

Murga said she didn't realize how much help was available until she started looking for it, and she hopes to serve as an example for law enforcement agencies who might be facing similar hurdles, and who still haven't reached out for assistance.

State-level initiatives are starting to spring up across the country, and grants are still being awarded by groups like the BJA. With all of that in mind, Murga said she hopes that the progress made by her team, as well as the FBI/NIJ partnership at large, inspires more agencies to reach out for help and get a handle on this important issue.

"It's not about testing kits," Murga said, "it's about solving cases, and that's what the focus has to be on."

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The push to solve more sexual assault cases comes as the DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics reported more and more victims are starting to report their crimes to police. And as LaPorte makes clear, the entire effort has always been about helping victims.

"Any little thing we can do to help the victim get justice," LaPorte said, "and then prevent - that's the key part too, to prevent this from happening in the future."

Source: Fox News National

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UN conference for Yemen seeks funds for $4b target in 2019

The United Nations has opened a third pledging conference in hopes of drumming up some $4 billion this year for Yemen, a war-battered country facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Host U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lamented "an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe" where some 24 million people, or four-fifths of Yemen's total population, require aid and protection.

"Twenty million people cannot reliably feed themselves or their families," he said in Geneva, where the meeting is taking place. "Almost 10 million are just one step away from famine."

U.N. officials say they are running out of money in a country also facing a devastated health care system, a lack of jobs, continued fighting and fallout from the world's worst cholera epidemic in 2017.

Source: Fox News World

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George H.W. Bush’s grandson is mulling congressional run in grandfather’s old Texas district

Another member of the Bush dynasty could be entering politics.

According to the Texas Tribune, political insiders in the Longhorn State are buzzing about the possibility of Pierce Bush -- the head of Houston-based Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star and the grandson of late President George H.W. Bush -- Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, D-Texas, for her congressional seat in the state’s 7th District. Jim McGrath, the longtime Bush family spokesman, tweeted the story and said it's "not fake news."

While Pierce Bush told the Texas newspaper that he is “currently putting my heart and soul into my role as CEO of the largest Big Brothers Big Sisters agency in the country,” he did seem to leave the door open to a possible run at the congressional seat his grandfather held in the 1960s.

GEORGE AND BARBARA BUSH THROUGH THE YEARS

"If I were to run for this office, or any other office, I would certainly run as a big tent candidate focused on discussing the important matters,” Bush said. “Together, we can stand for real opportunity for the many who need it."

The Houston-based CEO, who is the nephew of former President George W. Bush and son of Texas businessman Neil Bush, would become the second Bush family member to currently hold office if he were to run and win in the race against Fletcher.

George P. Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is currently Texas’ land commissioner.

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Fletcher, a first term congresswoman who defeated incumbent Houston Republican John Culberson last fall, has quickly become a target of the GOP in their hopes of winning back control of the lower chamber of Congress in 2020.

While Republicans still enjoy a favorable advantage overall in Texas, President Trump hold low approval numbers in Fletcher’s district, which could prove difficult for a GOP candidate to overcome in the upcoming election cycle.

Source: Fox News Politics

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A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Cyprus police on Friday widened their search for more victims of a suspected serial killer after the 35-year-old national guard captain told investigators he killed four more people that he previously admitted to on the small Mediterranean nation.

The count now has climbed to seven.

CYPRUS FEARS POSSIBLE SERIAL KILLER AFTER BODIES OF TWO WOMEN ARE DISCOVERED IN MINESHAFT

Authorities said they are focusing on a military firing range, a man-made lake and an abandoned mine about 20 miles west of the capital Nicosia.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades expressed “deep sorrow and concern” at the slayings and said he shared the public’s revulsion at “murders that appear to have selectively targeted foreign women who are in our country to work.”

“Such instincts are contrary to our culture’s traditions and values,” he said in a statement from China, where he was on an official visit. He urged calm so police can complete their investigation.

The scale of the alleged crimes by a Cypriot National Guard captain has horrified the small nation of over a million people, where multiple killings are rare. Five British law enforcement officials — including a coroner, a psychiatrist and investigators who specialize in multiple homicides — have been dispatched to help with the investigation.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect, who can’t yet be named because he hasn’t been formally charged, told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. Police said the suspect will appear in court Saturday for another custody hearing.

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims. 

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week’s discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims.  (AP)

The victims — all foreigners— include Marry Rose Tiburcio, 38, from the Philippines, whose bound body was found April 14 in a flooded mineshaft. She and her six-year-old daughter had been missing since May of last year.

The girl remains missing and authorities believe she was also slain by the suspect. Divers have entered the reservoir to search for her but have not found her body yet.

CYPRUS: GROUND NOT YET READY FOR PEACE TALKS RESUMPTION 

Authorities tracked down the officer last week by scouring Tiburcio’s online messages.

Six days later, police discovered another body April 20 in the same mineshaft, identified by Cypriot media as 28-year-old Arian Palanas Lozano, also from the Philippines.

A third alleged victim, also of Filipino descent, is 31-year-old Maricar Valtez Arquiola, who had been missing since December 2017. The suspect initially denied killing Arquiola but reversed himself after a court hearing Thursday, a police official said.

The suspect on Thursday also pointed investigators to a military firing range, where they discovered another unidentified body, which according to the suspect belongs to a woman of either Nepalese or Indian descent.

SERIAL KILLER WHO MAY HAVE COMMITTED 90 MURDERS IS LINKED TO YET ANOTHER KILLING 

Cypriot police are also looking for a Romanian mother and daughter. Cypriot media identified them as Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, and eight-year-old Elena Natalia Bunea, who are believed to have been missing since September 2016.

The man-made lake remains off-limits to a manned search because of high levels of toxic heavy metals from the copper pyrite mine, Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said, adding that authorities will use other means to scour the lake.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus police have faced criticism from immigrant activists who said they didn’t act fast enough to investigate the whereabouts of some of the victims, many of them domestic workers. The island nation has 80 unsolved missing persons cases, going back to 1990.

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Police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou said a three-member panel has been assigned to probe whether police followed all the correct protocol in recent missing persons cases.

According to the state-run Cyprus News Agency, an investigator had told the court at an earlier hearing that the suspect admitted to killing one woman he met online after having sex with her.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News World

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Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas
Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. REUTERS TV/ via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-run National Assembly said on Friday that opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro was detained, which it described in a Twitter post as a violation of diplomatic immunity.

Caro had previously spend a year and a half in jail, before being freed in June 2018. The arrest comes as Juan Guaido, the National Assembly’s leader, mounts a challenge to President Nicolas Maduro, arguing his 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Guaido in January invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency.

(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury's store in Redhill
FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury’s store in Redhill, Britain, March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) – With Sainsbury’s dream of creating Britain’s biggest supermarket group in tatters, its chastened CEO Mike Coupe needs to reassure investors he has the plan to arrest a sales decline when he presents annual results next week.

Britain’s competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s 7.3 billion pound ($9.4 billion) takeover of Walmart’s Asda on Thursday, saying the deal would increase prices. Sainsbury’s shares fell 5 percent and are down 22 percent over the last three months.

For Sainsbury’s fourth quarter to March 9 analysts are on average forecasting a 1.6 percent fall in like-for-like sales, which would follow 1.1 percent decline over the Christmas period.

Monthly industry data from researcher Kantar has also shown Sainsbury’s as the weakest performer of the big four grocers this year and this month it lost its status as Britain’s No. 2 supermarket group by market share to Asda.

While Sainsbury’s has struggled, market leader Tesco has gained momentum, this month reporting a 34 percent jump in full year profit.

Prohibition of the deal was a major blow to Coupe, its architect and Sainsbury’s boss since 2014.

Martin Scicluna became Sainsbury’s chairman last month and when bedded-in may decide that if the group needs a major shake-up it is best carried out by a new leader.

Much will depend on the attitude of 22 percent shareholder the Qatar Investment Authority, which has so far declined to comment, as well as Coupe’s own appetite to continue after 15 years at the group.

THE RIGHT STRATEGY?

Coupe said on Thursday he was confident Sainsbury’s was pursuing the right strategy.

That was a clear indication that Wednesday’s results statement will not include radical changes to the group’s plans, such as a big margin reset — sacrificing profit to drive sales.

However, sources connected to Sainsbury’s said Coupe would likely acknowledge that more needs to be done on prices, so the supermarket business can better compete with its big four rivals – Tesco, Asda and No. 4 Morrisons – as well as German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Coupe’s strategy is based on differentiating Sainsbury’s food offer, growing its general merchandise, clothing business and bank, while investing in convenience and online channels.

Some analysts believe major change is needed.

HSBC analyst David McCarthy reckons Sainsbury’s needs a margin reset, should allocate more space for core lines and needs to drive better store standards. He said Sainsbury’s might consider closing down space in some of its larger stores and reducing its non-food offer.

For the full 2018-19 year analysts are on average forecasting a pretax profit of 626 million pounds, up from 589 million pounds in 2017-18 – a second straight year of profit growth. A full year dividend of 10.5 pence per share is forecast versus 10.2 pence last time.

Bank and lawyer fees related to the proposed combination with Asda were 17 million pounds in the first half and have reportedly jumped to around 50 million pounds.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey rejected demands from a secular group to remove posts on social media where he sent Easter greetings and cited a Bible verse, offering to provide copies of the Constitution to his critics.

Ducey, who’s a practicing Catholic, has been bombarded with calls from Secular Communities for Arizona to remove the post, which included a cross, a Bible verse, and the phrase, “He is risen.”

ARIZONA’S GOP GOVERNOR WAGING WAR AGAINST OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING LAWS

The group argued the posts crossed a line into government sponsorship of religious messages and was unconstitutional.

The governor fired back at the group, saying in a tweet that he will never remove the posts or other religious ones.

“We won’t be removing this post. Ever. Nor will we be removing our posts for Christmas, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Palm Sunday, Passover or any other religious holiday,” he tweeted. “We support the First Amendment, and are happy to provide copies of the Constitution to anyone who hasn’t read it.”

Dianne Post, an attorney for the secular group, told the Arizona Republic “elected officials should not use their government position and government property to promote their religious views.”

LICENSE REQUIRED TO REPAIR DOORS? REGS SPARK HEATED DEBATE IN ARIZONA

She added the courts have repeatedly “struck down symbolism that unites government with religion,” adding that Ducey’s office must “represent and protect the rights of all residents of Arizona, including those who do not believe in a monotheistic God or any gods at all.”

Many congratulated Ducey for not backing down amid the pressure, though some Facebook users sided with the secular group and criticized the governor on his original post.

“Why do you use a government platform to bring up your personal religion?” asked one person. “Are there no citizens in your jurisdiction that believe differently from you?”

Another stipulated that the post was somewhat discriminatory. “Great sensitivity, Doug. That’s the last time this Jew votes for you,” one person wrote.

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Ducey wished in a statement Arizonans last week a “blessed and joyful Easter and Passover weekend.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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