Peru's former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski flashes a vee for victory as he returns to a court hearing to determine his release, in Lima, Peru, Monday, April 15, 2019. A judge in Peru ordered last week the detention for 10 days of the former leader as part of a money laundering probe into his consulting work for the company at the heart of Latin America's biggest graft scandal. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian judge has ordered that former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski be jailed for up to three years as authorities investigate his alleged involvement in a corruption case.
The order announced Friday against Kuczynski, which is designed to prevent him from trying to flee during the course of a money laundering investigation, came after 80-year-old was hospitalized because of illness in recent days.
Last week, a judge had ordered Kuczynski's detention for 10 days as he investigates some $782,000 in previously undisclosed payments from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht more than a decade ago.
Kuczynski resigned last year as opposition lawmakers sought his impeachment.
Mar 9, 2019; Frisco, TX, USA; FC Dallas defender Reto Ziegler (3) controls the ball in the second half against LA Galaxy at Toyota Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
March 9, 2019
Reto Ziegler scored on a penalty kick early in the second half and Bryan Acosta added a goal eight minutes later as FC Dallas defeated the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 on Saturday afternoon in Frisco, Texas.
Jesse Gonzalez recorded the shutout in goal for FCD (1-0-1) and had to make just one save thanks to a swarming defense and the absence due to injuries of Los Angeles attackers Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Achilles heel) and Romain Alessandrini (hamstring).
Ziegler took his kick from the spot in the 53rd minute after Los Angeles’ Diego Polenta fouled FC Dallas’ Matt Hedges in the box. Hedges elevated to head a pass that was send into the area, and Polenta kicked him in the side, drawing the whistle.
Acosta made it 2-0 when he stuck in the 61st minute. He rifled a volley from outside the front of the box past Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham after a pass off the end line by Paxton Pomykal.
FC Dallas outshot the Galaxy (1-1-0) 12-11 and had the only shot on target over the first 45 minutes.
Dominique Badji had two good scoring chances, forcing Bingham into the only save of the half in the 30th minute and then missing wide left in the 36th minute after juking the Los Angeles keeper off his line.
The Galaxy has a chance as well, when Uriel Antuna’s cross through the area found the foot of Rolf Feltscher, who hit it just off the mark in the final minute of the half.
The Galaxy’s 16-year-old midfielder, Efrain Alvarez, had a late chance to get Los Angeles on the board but his scorching shot in the 91st minute was deflected over the crossbar by Gonzalez, allowing Dallas to secure the clean sheet.
Dallas concentrated on keeping the ball and waiting for its chances and earned big edges in total passes (643-341) and possession percentage (64.1 to 35.9).
Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks at a “Strategic National Security Space: FY2020 Budget and Policy Forum,” hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
March 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Defense shifted $1 billion to plan and build a 57-mile section of “pedestrian fencing”, roads and lighting along the border between the United States and Mexico, the Pentagon chief said on Monday.
Last week, the Pentagon gave Congress a list that included $12.8 billion of construction projects for which it said funds could be redirected for construction along the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency last month in a bid to fund his promised border wall without congressional approval.
Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said in a memo to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen that the Department of Defense had the authority to support counter-narcotics activities near international boundaries.
Shanahan authorized the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to begin planning and executing the project that would involve building 57 miles of 18-foot-high fencing, constructing and improving roads, and installing lighting within the Yuma and El Paso sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is hoping recent revisions to her Brexit deal will finally persuade the British Parliament to pledge their support on Tuesday, nearly two months after suffering the largest defeat in House of Commons history.
May has been pushing a plan that lists the terms of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union for more than two years — since the country's historic 2016 referendum that resulted in the decision to depart the E.U. In January, members of Parliament voted 432-202 against May's deal, said to be the largest defeat in House of Commons history.
The House of Commons is once again due to vote on the divorce deal later Tuesday, a day after talks with the EU produced assurances that a contentious section of the agreement couldn't be used to tie Britain to the bloc indefinitely.
Time is running up: Britain is due to leave the E.U. on March 29. It’s possible the country could leave the bloc without a deal, which economists have warned could have devastating effects on the British economy. But May believes new legally binding tweaks to her Brexit deal will be enough to secure the votes she needs to pass the bill.
"In politics sometimes you get a second chance. It is what we do with that second chance that counts. There will be no third chance."
— Jean-Claude Juncker
However, the deal continues to face deep opposition from both sides of Britain's divide over Europe.
"In politics sometimes you get a second chance. It is what we do with that second chance that counts. There will be no third chance," Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, recently told the BBC.
Here’s what you need to know about Brexit and the departure agreement.
First, what is Brexit?
Brexit — or “British Exit” — refers to the U.K.’s choice to leave the E.U., which is an “economic and political partnership” that currently consists of 28 countries in Europe, according to the BBC.
A list of countries that are part of the E.U. can be found here.
What has happened since the U.K. voted to leave the E.U.?
May and other U.K. leaders have worked with the E.U. to negotiate and agree on the terms of the country’s exit from the E.U., which will occur on March 29 whether or not there is a deal, the BBC reported.
Negotiations between the two sides have led to a 585-page withdrawal agreement. The agreement, in part, details the terms of the U.K.’s departure from the E.U.
Namely, this includes how much money the U.K. is required to pay the E.U., (estimated £39 billion or more than $49 billion), what will happen to the E.U. citizens living in the U.K. and vice versa, and how to prevent a physical 310-mile border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland “when it becomes the frontier between the U.K. and the E.U.,” the BBC reported. This has also been referred to as the “backstop plan.”
The E.U. says that there can be no deal without the backstop to guarantee an open border along the U.K.'s only land frontier with an E.U. member state. But pro-Brexit supporters say this part of the agreement will bind the U.K. to many E.U. laws, CNBC previously reported.
Since her devastating defeat in January, May said she's secured a joint declaration from the European Union, U.K. and Northern Ireland that "commits to replacing the backstop with alternative arrangements" by the end of 2020, according to the BBC.
"The Parties recall their determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland by a subsequent agreement that establishes alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing," the March political declaration states.
Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington says changes to a portion of the deal regarding the Irish border should overcome lawmakers' concerns about a mechanism in the deal designed to keep an open border between Britain's Northern Ireland and E.U. member Ireland.
The new guarantee "provides confirmation that the E.U. cannot try to trap the U.K. in the backstop indefinitely," Lidington explained.
What's happening now?
Members of the British Parliament will vote on May's updated Brexit deal around 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
If the vote is passed then the U.K. will leave the E.U. with a deal on March 29.
If the vote is rejected again then the Parliament will likely vote on Wednesday to determine whether the U.K. should leave without a deal — if approved, the U.K. would exit without a deal on March 29. If Parliament doesn't agree to the "no deal"option then members would vote again Thursday on delaying the Brexit plan. If members disagree over the delay, the U.K. would leave the E.U. without a deal. But if they do vote for a delay, then May would have to ask the E.U. for an extension beyond the scheduled March 29 departure date.
May warned last week that any delay could mean "we may never leave the EU at all."
Alan Wager, a Brexit expert at the U.K. in a Changing Europe think tank, said Parliament this week could decisively rule out both May's deal and a no-deal departure.
That, in turn, would make such options as a new Brexit referendum or a "softer" withdrawal from the EU lot more likely, he said.
"Finally, the House of Commons is going to have to make a final judgment on what it wants in terms of Brexit," he said.
What’s the so-called “transition period” and why is it important?
The transition period is a period of time between March 29 and Dec. 21, 2020 that will allow businesses to adjust to the new rules between the U.K. and E.U. after Brexit formally begins.
But the transition period will only occur if a deal is met between the E.U. and U.K.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue speaks to dairy farmers at Trinity Valley Dairy in Cortland, New York, U.S., August 23, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
April 9, 2019
(Reuters) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Tuesday that Washington was in talks with China about reducing China’s tariff on U.S. ethanol and that the discussions were “positive.”
“There have been conversations with China on reducing that tariff on ethanol, which would obviously be good for our domestic corn industry,” he told reporters. “While things look positive, it’s never over till it’s over with the Chinese.”
He added that he wanted the Environmental Protection Agency to more tightly control its use of small refinery waivers exempting plants from their obligation to blend biofuels like corn-based ethanol under the Renewable Fuel Standard, and had discussed the issue with EPA chief Andrew Wheeler.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Richard Chang)
Top streaming service Netflix joined the left-wing war on language with a public service announcement calling for people to stop using the term “chick flicks” to describe movies mostly watched by women.
The official Twitter account for Netflix Film posted a thread of messages on Monday asking people to retire the phrase.
Quick PSA: Can we stop calling films “chick flicks” unless the films are literally about small baby chickens? Here’s why this phrase should absolutely be retired (thread):
For starters, “chick flicks” are traditionally synonymous with romantic comedies. This suggests that women are the only people interested in 1. Romance 2. Comedy. Which I can promise from the men I’ve come across in my life – simply isn’t true.
There aren’t sweeping categories specific to men. You don’t hear people asking to watch “man movies” – instead, pretty much every intersection of genre is on the table and seen as for men, except of course, the aforementioned rom-coms.
The term also cheapens the work that goes into making these types of films. Romantic comedies and/or films centered around female leads go through just as much editing, consideration, and rewriting as any other film.
And nicknaming films “chick flicks” drives home that there’s something trivial about watching them. But what’s trivial about watching a film that makes you feel 1,000 emotions in ~90 minutes?
Overall, there’s nothing inherently gendered about liking a light-hearted film with a strong female lead and emotional arc. So next time you call something a "chick flick," you better be referring to Chicken Run.
Since Barack and Michelle Obama partnered with Netflix in 2018, the streaming platform has stood against free speech multiple times.
For example, a documentary called “Root Cause” was deleted from the platform after the American Dental Association (ADA) and other groups complained, saying the film’s claims have no scientific basis.
In January, Netflix also pulled an episode of the show “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” after receiving complaints from Saudi Arabia because the program criticized their government.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected the notion of impeaching President Trump for overly political reasons.
During an interview with the Washington Post, Pelosi said that impeachment is “too divisive:”
I’m not for impeachment. This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.
Of course, that’s not to say Democrats won’t impeach the president if they can get several Republicans to go along with it, but Pelosi is setting a high standard regardless.
This other quote by Pelosi in the interview might explain her reasoning:
[Trump’s] been a great organizer for Democrats, a great fundraiser for Democrats and a great mobilizer at the grass-roots level for Democrats. [Laughs.] And I think that’s good for America.
Some may also suggest that Pelosi doesn’t expect the upcoming Mueller report to contain enough substance for impeachment proceedings.
A Florida measure that would ban sanctuary cities is set for a vote Friday in the state’s Senate after clearing its first hurdle earlier this week.
The bill would effectively make it against the law for Florida’s police departments to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
“The Governor may initiate judicial proceedings in the name of the state against such officers to enforce compliance,” a draft version of the Senate bill reads.
A House version of the bill, which passed by a 69-47 vote Wednesday, adds that non-complying officials could be suspended or removed from office and face fines of up to $5,000 per day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign off on the measure, although it’s not clear which version.
Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), during a press conference at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, speaks out against bills in the House and Senate that would ban sanctuary cities in the state. (AP)
Florida is home to 775,000 illegal immigrants out of 10.7 million present in the United States, ranking the state third among all states.
Nine states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas — already have enacted state laws requiring law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Florida doesn’t have sanctuary cities like the ones in California and other states. But Republican lawmakers say a handful of their municipalities — including Orlando and West Palm Beach – are acting as “pseudo-sanctuary” cities, because they prevent law enforcement officials from asking about immigration status when they make arrests.
“There are still people here in the state of Florida, police chiefs that are just refusing to contact ICE, refusing to detain somebody that they know is here illegally,” Florida Republican Rep. Blaise Ingoglia said earlier this month. “So while the actual county municipality doesn’t have an actual adopted policy, they still have people in power within their sheriff’s department or police department that refuse to do it anyway.”
Florida’s Democratic Party has blasted the anti-Sanctuary measures, while the Miami-Dade Police Department says it should be up to federal authorities to handle immigration-related matters.
“House Republicans today sold out their communities to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis by passing this xenophobic and discriminatory bill,” the state’s Democratic Party said Wednesday after the House passed their version of the bill. “It’s abhorrent that Republican members who represent immigrant communities are now turning their backs on their constituents and jeopardizing their safety.
“Florida has long stood as a beacon for immigrant communities — and today Republicans did the best they could to destroy that reputation,” they added.
Fox News’ Elina Shirazi contributed to this report.
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.
No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.
Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.
By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.
Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.
The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.
The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.
The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.
Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.
It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.
While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.
TRENDING
According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.
Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.
Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.
Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.
“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said
For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.
“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.
For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.
The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.
The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.
That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.
(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)
(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)
LANCASTER, Pa. – The Amish population in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County is continuing to grow each year, despite the encroachment of urban sprawl on their communities.
The U.S. Census Bureau says the county added about 2,500 people in 2018. LNP reports that about 1,000 of them were Amish.
Elizabethtown College researchers say Lancaster County’s Amish population reached 33,143 in 2018, up 3.2% from the previous year.
The Amish accounted for about 41% of the county’s overall population growth last year.
Some experts are concerned that a planned 75-acre (30-hectare) housing and commercial project will make it more difficult for the county to accommodate the Amish.
Donald Kraybill, an authority on Amish culture, told Manheim Township commissioners this week that some in the community are worried about the development and the increased traffic it would bring.
Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera has warned that if Democratic 2020 presidential candidates don’t take the crisis at the border seriously, they’ll do so at their own risk.
Speaking with “Fox & Friends” hosts on Friday morning, Rivera discussed the influx of candidates entering the race, including former Vice President Joe Biden, and gave an update on the newest developments at the border.
“If [Democrats] don’t take it seriously they ignore it at their peril,” Rivera said.
He went on to discuss the fact that Mexico is experiencing the same problems dealing with volumes of people at the border as the United States is. Processing facilities, as many have argued, are understaffed and underresourced, resulting in conditions that have been controversial.
“It is very, very difficult when hundreds and hundreds become thousands and thousands ultimately become tens of it is very difficult to have an orderly system,” he said.
Rivera asserted his opinion that the United States could lessen the influx of migrants coming into the country by investing in the development of Central American countries, where many are fleeing from violence and economic instability.
“I believe, as I have said before on this program, that we have to stop the source of the migrant explosion, by a comprehensive system of political and economic reform in Central America where people have the incentive to stay home,” Rivera said.
“I think we have help Mexico with its infrastructure. Mexico has a moral burden, as the president made very clear, not to let unchecked herds of desperate people flow through 2,000 miles of Mexican territory to get our southern border.”
Rivera also brought up President Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during his campaign in 2016.
The Fox News correspondent said that having been so excited about Trump’s campaign, the comments made him feel “deflated” as a Hispanic American.
However, as the crisis at the border has accelerated over the last few years, Rivera argued that ultimately, the president’s comments weren’t incorrect.
“He is now in a position where he can justly say I was right, that the that the anarchy at the border doesn’t serve anybody,” Rivera said. “Maybe he said it in a language I felt was a little rough and insensitive, but there is no doubt.”
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
April 26, 2019
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.
“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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