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China says Tibet human rights critics ‘bewitched’ by Dalai Lama

People cross a road under flags marking the Tibetan Serfs' Emancipation Day in Lhasa
People cross a road under flags marking Tibetan Serfs' Emancipation Day on March 28, in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China March 26, 2019. Picture taken March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

March 27, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Those who criticize China over human rights in Tibet have been “bewitched” by the Dalai Lama, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday, days before the 60th anniversary of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s flight into exile in India.

China says it “peacefully liberated” Tibet in 1950 and has since exerted enormous effort to bring the remote region into the modern era, abolishing feudal practices while protecting its Buddhist people’s right to freely practise their religion and maintain their culture.

Critics, including the United States, say China rules with an iron fist and has overseen widespread rights abuses.

Deputy Tibet governor Norbu Dondrup said Tibetan society was “very dark and very cruel” before Communist Party rule. He was speaking in Beijing on the release of a policy paper marking six decades since China began what it calls “democratic reforms” in Tibet.

He said ordinary people – or “serfs” – could be bought and sold, thrown in jail, or even killed at will when the Dalai Lama was in charge in Tibet.

“The Dalai Lama attacking our human rights totally has ulterior motives. He tramples on human rights, and has no right, no qualifications, and is unworthy of talking about human rights,” Norbu Dondrup said.

“As for some countries slamming our human rights, they either don’t understand or believe the Dalai clique’s rumors and bewitchments,” he said.

The human rights situation in Tibet was extremely good, he said, listing examples such as free medical care and an abundance of food.

Asked whether China would ever allow an independence referendum in Tibet, as has happened in Scotland and Quebec, Norbu Dondrup said Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times.

“We have never recognized Tibet independence, and neither has any other country,” he said. “Moreover, the peoples of Tibet in the extended family of the peoples of the motherland now have very happy lives.”

China reviles the Dalai Lama, who crossed the border into exile in India on March 31, 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Seen by Beijing as a dangerous separatist, he says he seeks merely genuine autonomy for his mountainous homeland and denies espousing violence.

The Dalai Lama told Reuters last week it was possible that, once he dies, his incarnation could be found in India and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected.

The officially atheist Communist Party says it must approve his and other reincarnations of Tibetan lamas.

The Tibet issue has also become another irritant in China-U.S. ties after President Donald Trump signed into law a Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act in December.

That seeks to press China to open the region by denying U.S. entry to officials deemed responsible for restricting access to Tibet. China has denounced the law.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: OANN

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Danone sells U.S. organic salad business to Taylor Farms

The logo of French food group Danone is seen at the company's headquarters in Paris
The logo of French food group Danone is seen at the company's headquarters in Paris, France, December 20, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

April 12, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – French food group Danone said on Friday it had signed a definitive agreement for the sale of Earthbound Farms, its U.S. organic salad business, to California-based Taylor Farms.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The sale of Earthbound Farms, which had 2018 sales of about $400 million, is part of Danone’s portfolio management and capital allocation optimization strategy, the company statement said.

Danone Chief Executive Emmanuel Faber said in February the loss-making Earthbound Farms was under “intense strategic scrutiny”.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

Source: OANN

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Jobs, caste and giveaways: Indian voters go to the polls

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 promising big-ticket economic reforms. But with unemployment rising and signature policies getting panned, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted a nationalist pitch ahead of a general election that begins this week.

The last time the BJP sought a second term was 2004, when it spent millions on an ad blitz projecting India as an economic powerhouse.

The voters didn't buy it. Election results showed that people voted according to their caste, an ancient hierarchy in India that is outlawed by the constitution but still vital in Indian politics.

Hindus comprise about 80% of India's 1.3 billion people, so the BJP is invoking its Hindu nationalist roots, with Modi at the forefront against the threat of Pakistan, India's Muslim-majority archrival.

Voting will take place in seven phases over six weeks beginning Thursday. Nearly 900 million people, including 15.9 million first-time voters, are eligible to cast ballots in the world's largest democratic exercise. Around a million polling stations will be set up, and voters will choose 543 members of the Lower House of Parliament.

A look at some of the key election issues and factors:

___

JOBS

Even though India continues to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the Modi-led government's performance on the economy has come under criticism.

A November 2016 demonetization program aimed to curb black market money by taking some rupee notes out of circulation. But it ultimately hurt the poor, and India's central bank said later that most of the illicit funds had re-entered the banking system.

According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, employment contracted in the year following demonetization by 3.5 million jobs. The think tank said unemployment reached 7.4% in December 2018, its highest rate in more than two years.

Public subsidies to farmers have failed to steady India's agricultural sector.

The first item in the opposition Congress party's election manifesto describes a plan for creating jobs. It also promises an income subsidy program for the poorest families and for farmers.

___

KASHMIR

Amid growing scrutiny of Modi's economic record, a suicide attack in Kashmir killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in February, helping the BJP hone its nationalist pitch.

Analysts say Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan in response to the attack gave Modi a pre-election boost. BJP leaders quickly made national security a central plank of their campaign.

In northern parts of the country bordering Pakistan, anti-Pakistan sentiment has always been strong because of the bloodshed during the countries' partition in 1947 and three wars since then.

But anti-Muslim sentiment in India has become more common and more violent since the BJP came to power in 2014. At least three dozen Muslims have been lynched by self-styled Hindu vigilante groups or mobs on suspicion of illegally moving cows, sacred to Hindus, or eating beef, according to Human Rights Watch.

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CASTE

The BJP is mainly supported by upper-caste Hindus, while struggling to make headway with lower-caste voters and non-Hindus.

Successive governments have sought to redress discrimination against those on the lower rungs by setting up quotas for government jobs and university spots.

Currently, just under half of all government jobs and places in state-funded schools are allocated to the lower castes.

With an eye toward elections, Modi's government last year passed a law carving out 10% quotas for lower-income Indians belonging to higher castes.

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POLITICAL PUZZLE

Modi has been on an electoral blitzkrieg across this vast country, promoting government development projects while blasting the alleged corruption within the opposition Congress party, a dynasty that began with India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi ruled the country for about a half a century after India won independence from Britain in 1947. Rajiv Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, is now the Congress party leader and a potential candidate for prime minister if the opposition can stitch an alliance to stop the Modi juggernaut.

That's easier said than done. Despite Congress victories in three key state elections in December, bucking a string of losses to the BJP since 2014, Gandhi has struggled to marshal widespread support for his beleaguered party, even after bringing his popular sister, Priyanka Gandhi, into the fold.

The Gandhis would have to unite the opposition in order to take on BJP candidates in the vote-rich states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi. A split in opposition votes would likely benefit the BJP.

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GIVEAWAYS

Giveaways are essential in Indian politics.

Some 270 million people — roughly 22% of the country's population — live in poverty, making giveaways particularly attractive to voters.

In the past, farmworkers were offered cows and goats.

In its interim budget in January, the Modi-led government announced that farmers would be paid 6,000 rupees ($85) annually, benefiting as many as 120 million households.

The Congress party waived farmers' bank loans in the three states it won in December. It promised in its election manifesto to waive outstanding farmer loans elsewhere, and to decriminalize farmer loan defaults.

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SYMBOLS

A ladder, hand pump, bicycle, bow and arrow, bungalow, book, mango and banana are just some of the many objects voters will see on their electronic ballots, symbols of the dozens of political parties and independent candidates in the fray.

Since only about a fifth of India's population could read or write at the time of the country's first election in 1951, the symbols were introduced on ballot papers to help the unlettered cast their votes.

Nearly three-quarters of Indians can now read, but the icons remain evocative political symbols.

Among the best-known symbols are the lotus flower for the governing BJP, and the outstretched palm-facing hand for Congress.

The Aam Aadmi Party, or the Common Man's Party, which rules the state of Delhi, chose a broom as its election symbol, reflecting its pledge to sweep the political system clean of corruption.

Source: Fox News World

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Cyprus police step up search for more of suspect’s victims

Cyprus police are intensifying a search for the remains of more victims at locations where an army officer, who authorities say admitted to killing five women and two girls, allegedly had dumped their bodies.

Police said Friday's search will concentrate on a military firing range, a reservoir and a man-made lake near an abandoned mine approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. All the suspect's alleged victims are foreign nationals.

Police have already found the bodies of a 38-year-old Filipino woman and two as yet unidentified women.

Search crews are now looking for the daughter of the 38-year-old, a Romanian mother and daughter and another Filipino woman.

Source: Fox News World

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Dems ramp up anti-Trump probes post-Mueller, despite pledge to focus on agenda

Days after the summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report rocked Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats should shift focus to their legislative agenda.

But while some in the caucus have indeed pivoted to issues like health care, senior Democratic lawmakers have sought to keep the investigations humming, ramping up their anti-Trump probes on a variety of fronts while mounting a battle with the Justice Department over access to the complete Mueller report and its underlying materials.

HOUSE DEM ASKS IRS FOR 6 YEARS OF TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS, SETTING UP SHOWDOWN WITH WHITE HOUSE

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee voted to authorize subpoenas for five former Trump advisers, intensifying the committee’s sweeping probe into Trump and his personal business and political dealings. This came as the committee voted along party lines to authorize subpoenas for the full Mueller report. Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., already has sent document requests to 81 individuals and entities connected to the president, as part of his probe into “alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump.”

Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service for six years of the president’s personal and business tax returns. Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., formally requested the returns—marking the first request in 45 years for such documents related to a sitting president. The move is sure to set up a legal showdown between congressional Democrats and the White House.

“It’s critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials,” Neal said in a statement. “To maintain trust in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is operating properly, as laws intend.”

Neal’s request, for Trump tax returns for 2013 through 2018, went directly to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," countered that Democrats will "never" see the documents.

In a separate request related to Trump’s finances, the House Oversight Committee authorized a series of subpoenas for Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars Accounting. Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told reporters that the firm would respond to the committee’s request for financial documents and audits prepared for Trump and his businesses over the last decade.

Cummings’ committee, since the release of the Mueller report, has also formally voted to authorize and issue subpoenas for information related to both White House security clearances and the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The committee voted last week to subpoena White House personnel security director Carl Kline over a series of controversial security clearances. As for the census, committee Democrats said they wanted specific documents that would determine why Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross decided to add the question.

And on the other side of Capitol Hill, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined Rep. Stephen Lynch, both from Massachusetts, to request an investigation into whether the White House is interfering with, or overruling, Secret Service recommendations about which guests at Trump’s Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, should have access to the president.

Warren and Lynch penned a letter to the acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security requesting the probe, citing a series of reports that suggested the resort could be a channel for foreign adversaries to seek influence in federal policy and national security -- after a woman was arrested at the club allegedly carrying two Chinese passports and malware.

All of these developments have come since March 24, when Attorney General Bill Barr released his summary of the Mueller report stating the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 presidential election.

A day after that momentous transmission, Pelosi, D-Calif., called for renewed focus on a legislative agenda.

“This is really important today. Because we must with all that is going on stay focused on our purpose,” she said.

Pelosi said the party needed to focus on “lower health care costs, bigger paychecks, and cleaner government.”

HOUSE JUDICIARY DEMOCRATS AUTHORIZE SUBPOENAS FOR MUELLER REPORT

But top Democrats leading prominent congressional committees have, instead, expanded their existing Trump-focused investigations, with some moving in new directions.

The push for Trump's tax returns, however, was months in the making.

Democrats, since taking back the majority, have had every intention of targeting Trump’s tax files. In January, just days after reclaiming the majority, Democrats rolled out a broad ethics reform package that specifically requires presidents to disclose at least 10 years of their tax returns to the public.

The topic has been a contentious one since Trump's time on the campaign trail in 2016 as he refused to abide by past practice of presidential candidates and release his returns.

Trump, when informed of Neal’s request, said he was still “not inclined” to turn over his tax documents.

“We’re under audit, despite what people said, and we’re working that out—I’m always under audit, it seems, and I’ve been under audit for many years, because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited. But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week.

HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE VOTES TO ISSUE SUBPOENAS ON WH SECURITY CLEARANCES, CENSUS QUESTIONS

Meanwhile, other Trump-focused investigations on Capitol Hill are ongoing.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is investigating the president’s foreign business dealings and Russian election meddling, maintaining that despite the results of Mueller’s probe, there is evidence of collusion.

Schiff’s panel has also weighed subpoenaing the interpreter who was present for meetings between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, to obtain notes from the summits.

TRUMP ACCUSES SCHIFF OF 'UNLIMITED PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT' AMID NEW PROBE

The House Financial Services Committee, led by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is also probing the president, coordinating with Schiff’s committee on money-laundering inquiries. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is also involved.

Schiff and Waters have together said they would run a joint investigation into Deutsche Bank—which has done extensive business dealings with the president. Last year, Schiff charged that Trump’s financial records with Deutsche Bank and Russia may reveal a “form of compromise” that “needs to be exposed.” Schiff has long maintained that there had to be some reason that the German banking giant, which he said has a “history of laundering Russian money,” was willing to work with the Trump Organization.

Trump, for his part, tried to pivot from investigations into him and encourage Democrats to begin probes instead into the early stages of the Russia probe—like the Senate Judiciary Committee has announced—and focus on legislation.

“According to polling, few people seem to care about the Russian Collusion Hoax, but some Democrats are fighting hard to keep the Witch Hunt alive. They should focus on legislation or, even better, an investigation of how the ridiculous Collusion Delusion got started—so illegal!” Trump tweeted Thursday.

Earlier in the week, Trump blasted both Schiff and Nadler, specifically, claiming Democrats would never be satisfied.

“There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is not time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Last month, the president accused Democrats of simply "wasting everyone's time," with their investigations into "the same nonsense."

But despite Pelosi’s calls for action, she has said she has faith in her committee chairs and their investigations.

After the State of the Union in February, Pelosi said, “It’s our congressional responsibility, and if we didn’t do it, we would be delinquent in that.”

Fox News' Gregg Re and Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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New migrant caravan of 2,500 sets out through Mexico for US

A new migrant caravan of about 2,500 people is making its way through southern Mexico, headed for the U.S. border.

The city of Huixtla says the caravan of 2,466 people is mainly made up people from Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

The city said late Monday there are many children in the caravan, and some are suffering in the area's near-100-degree (39-degree) heat.

The city government posted a video of migrants walking on a highway just outside the town and resting under trees. While caravans last year were allowed to stay in the city's center, this year they were kept on the highway.

The caravans are not getting as a warm a welcome in the southern state of Chiapas as they did last year.

Source: Fox News World

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Mercedes Schlapp: Dems 'stand very united' on open borders while Republicans 'splinter off'

The White House strategic communications senior adviser, Mercedes Schlapp, delivered what could be considered a backhanded compliment to Democrats on Wednesday, saying the party is showing unity -- on unsafe open borders.

Schlapp appeared on “The Story” to discuss the Trump administration’s attempts to fight the escalating opioid crisis in part through reinforcement of the southern border with Mexico.

When asked why there isn’t more support over Trump’s national emergency declaration and effort to bolster border security, she said Democrats “stand very united” on “open borders and crime,” while Republicans seemed to splinter off” during voting.

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“It is clear that the president has made his case to declare a national emergency. It’s been done 60 times before by former presidents on less important issues,” Schlapp told Fox News’ Ed Henry.

“Because what we’re seeing right now is this emergency happening where, in essence, our Border patrol agents are spending more time processing illegal aliens than they are focused on border security, on monitoring what is happening on the border.”            

Fox News' Ed Henry contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.

The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.

Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.

A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.

In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.

Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.

The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.

Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia’s decision to make it easier for residents of rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to obtain a Russian passport is meant to test Ukraine’s new leader and the West should not recognize the documents, Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the order on facilitating passports on Wednesday, three days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice, won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.

Linas Linkevicius, whose own country also has strained relations with Moscow, told Reuters in an interview that the West should consider imposing new sanctions on Russia.

“This is a blatant violation of international law. And basically also a kind of test to the new (Ukrainian) leadership, which is also a usual game,” Linkevicius said.

“The least we can do (is) we shouldn’t recognize these passports. How to do that technically, it’s another issue to discuss. Also (we need) to look at additional sanctions,” said Linkevicius, whose small Baltic nation is a member of NATO and the European Union.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for armed separatists battling Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict despite a notional ceasefire signed in Minsk in 2015.

Linkevicius, who in Kiev on Friday became the first minister of an EU country since Ukraine’s election to meet President-elect Zelenskiy, said they had discussed the passport issue.

Zelenskiy also raised the possibility of resetting the Minsk ceasefire agreement without giving any concessions to Russia, Linkevicius said.

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

The minister urged Zelenskiy to deliver on his electoral promise of tackling corruption, which he described as the “most dangerous cancer” facing Ukraine, which hopes one day to join the EU.

Last month, Lithuania’s own relations with Russia came under renewed strain after a Vilnius court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, in absentia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in a 1991 crackdown against Lithuania’s pro-independence movement.

Russia branded the verdict “extremely unfriendly and essentially provocative” and opened a probe into the judges involved.

Linkevicius accused Russia of seeking to politicize the judicial process by trying to take revenge on the judges, adding: “This is lamentable.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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A Cook County judge recently called out embattled State Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting a woman for filing a false police report — but dropping similar charges against embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Foxx has faced intense criticism over her office’s decision to drop a 16-count indictment against Smollett, just weeks after bringing the charges against the high-profile TV star. Foxx’s deal with Smollett, which did not require him to admit guilt, drew ire from the public, the city’s top cop and the former mayor who called it a “whitewash of justice.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUPS AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED 

Cook County Judge Marc Martin, who was presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating a situation where anyone charged with filing a false report would expect the same leniency her office afforded Smollett.

Candace Clark, 21, is facing one felony count of making a false report. Prosecutors accused her of giving a friend access to her bank account and then telling authorities the money had been stolen. She denies the charges and claims she’s the victim of Foxx’s double standard — something the judge weighed in on.

“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good. And this smells, big time,” Martin said to prosecutors during a recent hearing, Fox 32 reported. “I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently.”

The judge continued, “There’s no publicity on this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And (if) I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole. (If the) press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”

Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through text messages with her assistant Joseph Magats.

The text messages revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to cops.” They also show she cautioned Magats about throwing the book at Smollett.

“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.

“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of R&B singer R. Kelly, who was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four women, three of whom were underage.

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

President Trump said last month he asked for a federal review of Foxx’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett. He also called the actor “an absolute embarrassment to our country.”

The Smollett case garnered national attention and threatened to tear Chicago apart. It pit the police department and mayor against prosecutors and underscored the idea that wealthy people are somehow above the law.

Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

CLICK HERE FOF THE FOX NEWS APP

After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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