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Lawmakers push to allow banks to work with marijuana companies

LAS VEGAS -- Despite being legal in a handful of states, including Nevada, many cannabis companies struggle to find banks and financial institutions that are willing to take a gamble on an industry reliant on a product that remains on the federal government's blacklist.

“We have tried to go to a couple of different banks and pretty much no one will touch us,” said Jillian Nelson, vice president of operations at Evergreen Organix, a marijuana company in Las Vegas. “As soon as they find out that we are a marijuana company, they want nothing to do with us.”

While 33 states have legalized marijuana in some form, it is still illegal at the federal level – making banks and financial institutions, like credit unions, wary of doing business with cannabis companies.

IS POT THE FUTURE OF THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY?

“You’re not going to get the larger banks -- the Chase [s], the Bank of America [s] -- typically to work with those businesses because of the fear of the regulators coming in and clamping down against this process,” IRC Wealth CEO David Ragland told Fox News, adding that smaller banks, however, will still work with these businesses.

Currently, there are 438 banks and 113 credit unions that actively work with marijuana-related businesses in the United States, according to the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

A bill was introduced in Nevada on Monday that hopes to create a process to license banks and credit unions serving marijuana dispensaries in order to offer dispensaries a safe way to invest in the economy. Under the proposed bill, the licensed banks and credit unions would not be required to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, according to The Associated Press.

Legislation introduced in Washington D.C. earlier this month by Democrats Ed Perlmutter of Colorado and Denny Heck of Washington aims to offer banks, including ancillary businesses, protections against sanctions when associating with marijuana companies. The bill would also adjust tribal language and change the definition of cannabis business.

Under the current law, financial institutions could face criminal prosecution for working with marijuana companies as it is still viewed as a Schedule I drug at the federal level.

The SAFE Banking Act would offer protections for banks and financial institutions against sanctions for working with Marijuana companies.

The SAFE Banking Act would offer protections for banks and financial institutions against sanctions for working with Marijuana companies.

“Once you decide you're going to have these licensed businesses they should have access to banking services,” Jonathan Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and adjunct researcher with RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center said. “There is an argument be made for not allowing a for-profit industry, there's an argument that only nonprofits should be allowed to supply cannabis or just government. But, once you allow industry to occupy this space, they should have access to banking services.”

Without access to banks, marijuana companies are forced to operate mainly in cash -- making the businesses prime targets for crime.

JELLY BELLY CREATOR INTRODUCES CBD-INFUSED JELLY BEANS

“We do have to retain the services of armed guards for cash pickups transports and distributions because transporting that sort of money and large sums isn't safe for really anybody nowadays,” Nelson told Fox News, adding that the bill could be “life-changing for everybody in the cannabis industry.”

The whole Nevada delegation has backed the bill, with Republican Rep. Mark Amodei being the last to signal his support. While he believes there still needs to be additional oversight, like granting local and federal government access to the financial records, he acknowledged, “they shouldn’t be dealing with a whole bunch of cash floating around, like they are now,” according to the Nevada Independent.

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But Caulkins believes “legalizing banking services is a sensible intermediary” during a “chaotic” situation as states continue to adopt pro-cannabis policies that contradict federal law.

“It really does not make sense to have state legal, illegal federally,” he said. “But this is a good band-aid to help the bridge or transition time be less chaotic.”

The SAFE Banking Act, which has more than 130 bipartisan co-sponsors, has been pushed since 2013 – but with a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, Perlmutter believes the odds of passing legislation is much higher than in the past.

“We’ve got a lot better chances than we’ve ever had before, in part, because Democrats took the House and I think the fact that we are at 47 states that have some level of marijuana use,” Perlmutter told the Nevada Independent earlier this month. “Prohibition is over. We need to get the cash off the streets.”

If the bill does eventually become law, the already thriving industry could see even more dramatic growth similar to how the legalization gambling changed Las Vegas and the end of prohibition catalyzed the alcohol industry, Ragland said.

The first markup hearing for the bill in the House Financial Services Committee is on March 26.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Pentagon identifies 2 service members killed in Afghanistan

The Pentagon on Saturday identified two U.S. service members who were killed in Afghanistan earlier this week.

U.S. Army Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Will Lindsay and Spc. Joseph P. Collette were killed during an operation on Friday, officials said.

Lindsay, 33, of Cortez, Colo., died in Kunduz “as a result of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations as part of the Operation Freedom's Sentinel,” said Lt. Col. Loren Bymer, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman.

TWO US SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN AGHANISTAN

Lindsay enlisted in the Army in 2004, Bymer said.

Lindsay enlisted in the Army in 2004, Bymer said. (U.S. Army)

The soldier, a husband and father of four girls, was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), according to the official.

Throughout his time in the military, Lindsay – who enlisted in the Army in 2004 – was deployed to Iraq, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Bymer said.

"The 10th SFG (A) Family is deeply saddened at the loss of Sgt. 1st Class Will Lindsay," Col. Lawrence Ferguson, 10th SFG (A) commander, said. "Will was one of the best in our formation, with more than a decade of service in the Regiment at all levels of noncommissioned officer leadership. We will focus now on supporting his Family and honoring his legacy and sacrifice."

Collette, 29, of Lancaster, Ohio, was assigned to the 242nd Ordnance Battalion, 71st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, according to the Pentagon.

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Both service members were based at Fort Carson, Colo., officials said.

The fatalities bring the number of U.S. service members killed so far this year in Afghanistan to four, according to The Associated Press.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson, Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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‘Evil attracts evil’: Judge gives mom life in teen murder

A woman who plotted the rape, torture and murder of her own teenage daughter pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to life in prison for a crime so barbaric that prosecutors and the judge strained for superlatives to describe it.

One day after her co-conspirator boyfriend was sentenced to death, Sara Packer, 44, appeared in a suburban Philadelphia courthouse and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and 16 other offenses in the 2016 slaying of 14-year-old Grace Packer.

"Evil attracts evil. Evil recognizes evil. And in Jacob Sullivan, you found one of your own," Bucks County Judge Diane Gibbons, her voice dripping with contempt, told Packer in sentencing her to the maximum term.

"You like rape. You like murder. That's a fact," said Gibbons, decrying the "rot" and "warped depravity" on display in the case.

Packer, whose crimes were not eligible for Pennsylvania's death penalty, did not make a statement.

Prosecutors said Packer and her boyfriend, Jacob Sullivan, shared a rape-murder fantasy and spent months plotting Grace's slaying in a vacant house about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.

Sara Packer testified that the couple took her adoptive daughter to a sweltering attic and gave her what they intended to be a lethal overdose of medicine. Sullivan sexually assaulted her as Sara Packer watched. They bound her hands and feet with zip ties, stuffed a ball gag in her mouth and left her to die.

Grace eventually managed to escape some of her bindings. But she was unable to make it out of the house before Sullivan and Sara Packer returned overnight — some 12 hours later — and Sullivan strangled her while Sara Packer held her hand and watched her die.

Sara Packer and Sullivan stored Grace's body in cat litter for months, then dismembered it and dumped the remains in a remote, wooded area of northeastern Pennsylvania where hunters found it in October 2016.

Bucks County prosecutor Jennifer Schorn said in court Friday that Sara Packer — a former county adoptions supervisor who had fostered dozens of children over the years — saw Grace Packer as a source of government benefits and nothing more.

Schorn and the judge marveled at how someone who professed to be a mother could have been so cruel.

"It defies nature, what she did," Schorn said.

Sullivan, who pleaded guilty to first degree murder, was sentenced to death by a jury Thursday. Packer admitted in court during Sullivan's sentencing hearing that she hated Grace and "wanted her to go away."

Sara Packer lost her job at Northampton County's children and youth department in 2010 after her husband at the time, David Packer, was sent to prison for sexually assaulting Grace and another foster child. But child welfare authorities did not remove Grace from the home, despite evidence of abuse.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services launched an investigation after Grace's murder. Its report was sealed while Packer and Sullivan were being prosecuted, but is expected to be made public on Monday.

After the sentencing, District Attorney Matt Weintraub called on lawmakers to pass a child protection law called "Grace's Law."

"Grace's memory will no longer be bound to that of these two predators. She is free," Weintraub said.

Source: Fox News National

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Pelosi Joins Cuomo for Signing of NY 'Red Flag Bill'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appeared with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday while he signed a bill allowing authorities to remove guns from dangerous individuals, The Hill reports.

Cuomo signed the "Red Flag Bill," which was not supported by any Republicans in the state legislature, in New York City on Monday. The law will take effect in 180 days, and will allow family members, school officials, and/or law enforcement to obtain a court order confiscating firearms from people that are found to be an "extreme risk" to themselves or others.

"We are empowering teachers — not by giving them guns like the President wants — but by arming and empowering them with the law, so when a teacher or family member sees there is a problem, they can go to a judge and get a court-ordered evaluation," the governor said in a statement. "The Red Flag Bill will save lives and doesn't infringe on anybody's rights, and it is common sense."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Justices Seem Ready to OK Asking Citizenship on Census

Despite evidence that millions of Hispanics and immigrants could go uncounted, the Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed ready Tuesday to uphold the Trump administration's plan to inquire about U.S. citizenship on the 2020 census in a case that could affect American elections for the next decade.

There appeared to be a clear divide between the court's liberal and conservative justices in arguments in a case that could affect how many seats states have in the House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years. States with a large number of immigrants tend to vote Democratic.

Three lower courts have so far blocked the plan to ask every U.S. resident about citizenship in the census, finding that the question would discourage many immigrants from being counted . Two of the three judges also ruled that asking if people are citizens would violate the provision of the Constitution that calls for a count of the population, regardless of citizenship status, every 10 years. The last time the question was included on the census form sent to every American household was 1950.

Three conservative justices, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, had expressed skepticism about the challenge to the question in earlier stages of the case, but Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh had been silent, possibly suggesting a willingness to disrupt the administration's plan.

However, over 80 minutes in a packed courtroom, neither Roberts nor Kavanaugh appeared to share the concern of the lower court judges who ruled against the administration.

Kavanaugh, the court's newest member and an appointee of President Donald Trump, suggested Congress could change the law if it so concerned that the accuracy of the once-a-decade population count will suffer. "Why doesn't Congress prohibit the asking of the citizenship question?" Kavanaugh asked near the end of the morning session.

Kavanaugh and the other conservatives were mostly silent when Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, defended Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to add the citizenship question. Ross has said the Justice Department wanted the citizenship data, the detailed information it would produce on where eligible voters live, to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.

Lower courts found that Ross' explanation was a pretext for adding the question, noting that he had consulted early in his tenure with Stephen Bannon, Trump's former top political adviser and immigration hardliner Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state.

The liberal justices peppered Francisco with questions about the administration plan, but they would lack the votes to stop it without support from at least one conservative justice.

"This is a solution in search of a problem," Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's lone Hispanic member, said of Ross' decision.

Justice Elena Kagan chimed in that "you can't read this record without sensing that this need was a contrived one."

Roberts appeared to have a different view of the information the citizenship question would produce.

"You think it wouldn't help voting rights enforcement?" Roberts asked New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood, who was representing states and cities that sued over Ross' decision.

Underwood and American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Dale Ho said the evidence showed the data would be less accurate. Including a citizenship question would "harm the secretary's stated purpose of Voting Rights Act enforcement," Ho said.

Census Bureau experts have concluded that the census would produce a more accurate picture of the U.S. population without a citizenship question because people might be reluctant to say if they or others in their households are not citizens. Federal law requires people to complete the census accurately and fully.

The Supreme Court is hearing the case on a tight timeframe, even though no federal appeals court has yet to weigh in. A decision is expected by late June, in time to print census forms for the April 2020 population count.

The administration argues that the commerce secretary has wide discretion in designing the census questionnaire and that courts should not be second-guessing his action. States, cities and rights groups that sued over the issue don't even have the right to go into federal court, the administration says. It also says the citizenship question is plainly constitutional because it has been asked on many past censuses and continues to be used on smaller, annual population surveys.

Gorsuch, also a Trump appointee, also noted that many other countries include citizenship questions on their censuses.

Douglas Letter, a lawyer representing the House of Representatives, said the census is critically important to the House, which apportions its seats among the states based on the results. "Anything that undermines the accuracy of the actual enumeration is immediately a problem," Letter said, quoting from the provision of the Constitution that mandates a decennial census.

Letter also thanked the court on behalf of Speaker Nancy Pelosi for allowing the House to participate in the arguments.

"Tell her she's welcome," Roberts replied.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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U.S. income inequality a ‘national emergency’: billionaire Ray Dalio

FILE PHOTO: China Development Forum in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Bridgewater Associates Chairman Ray Dalio attends the China Development Forum in Beijing, China March 23, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

April 4, 2019

By David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Widening income inequality and under-investment in public education “pose an existential risk for the U.S.,” hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio wrote in a paper released Thursday.

Dalio, who Forbes lists as the 57th-richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $18.4 billion from founding hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, released a report Thursday in which he spells out the ways he sees capitalism as failing in the United States. In the report, Dalio advocates for an increase in investments in early childhood education, per-pupil spending, infrastructure, and public health measures in order to save it.

Chief among Dalio’s criticisms are the widening wealth gap in the United States, which he links to lower high school graduation rates, greater disparity in test scores, and lower teacher pay compared with those with similar education levels over the last three decades.

“To me, leaving so many children in poverty and not educating them well is the equivalent of child abuse, and it is economically stupid,” Dalio wrote.

The increasing use of automation to replace workers and the wealth-effect of lower interest rate policies by the Federal Reserve which have increased the value of equities and property will continue to compound this problem, which will make the 2020 presidential election “a hell of a battle,” Dalio wrote. Yet by taxing pollution and other societal ills, the United States can strengthen the capitalist system without replacing it, Dalio argued.

The move by Dalio to publish his essay comes approximately two months after Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $3.7 billion, said he was considering a bid for the White House as an independent in order to address the “crisis of capitalism in this country.”

(Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Diane Craft)

Source: OANN

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Qualcomm aims to take on Nvidia, Intel with new AI chips

FILE PHOTO: Qualcomm and 5G logos are seen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
FILE PHOTO: Qualcomm and 5G logos are seen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

April 10, 2019

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday unveiled a new chip for speeding up artificial intelligence work, aiming to diversify beyond its stronghold in mobile phone chips and into a fast-growing market now dominated by Nvidia Corp and Intel Corp.

At an event in San Francisco, Qualcomm said it plans to begin testing its new Cloud AI 100 chip with partners such as Microsoft Corp later this year, with mass production likely to begin in 2020.

Qualcomm’s new chip is designed for what artificial intelligence researchers call “inference” – the process of using an AI algorithm that has been “trained” with massive amounts of data in order to, for example, translate audio into text-based requests.

Analysts believe chips for speeding up inference will be the largest part of the AI chip market.

Nvidia has released special chips for the task and Intel is working with Facebook Inc on one that will be released later this year. Cloud computing vendors such as Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services and Alphabet Inc’s Google Cloud unit are also making their own inference chips.

All that activity means Qualcomm is entering a crowded field behind its rivals.

But Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s president and the chief of its chip division, said the San Diego company is taking a different approach by aiming to serve the smaller, simpler data centers that are proliferating around the world so that consumers can benefit from faster response times for their internet-connected apps.

In order to serve those smaller “edge” data sites, Qualcomm is focusing on AI chips that consume small amounts of electricity and generate little heat – a specialty it developed when making chips for mobile phones, which run on small batteries and live in pockets.

Rivals such as Intel and Nvidia make more powerful chips that dominate in centralized data centers that suck up electricity and need complex cooling systems.

“You can’t rely on big [data center] buildings with air conditioning,” Amon told reporters at the San Francisco event. “That’s our bet – performance per watt leadership.”

Qualcomm tried before to parlay its mobile chip expertise into data center sales, when it aimed to compete directly with Intel’s core business by selling CPU chips based on mobile phone chip technology. That effort has largely been wound down as a cost-cutting measure.

“I think this is a good start for Qualcomm, but they have a lot to prove in the higher performance accelerator space,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights & Strategy.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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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