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Merck KGaA goes hostile in $5.9 billion Versum takeover battle

FILE PHOTO: A logo of drugs and chemicals group Merck KGaA is pictured in Darmstadt
FILE PHOTO: A logo of drugs and chemicals group Merck KGaA is pictured in Darmstadt, Germany January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German pharma group Merck KGaA on Tuesday sidestepped the management of takeover target Versum Materials and took its $5.9 billion offer directly to the U.S. chemical company’s shareholders.

Versum, the former specialty chemicals division of industrial gases group Air Products, has been opposed to Merck’s cash offer since it was first proposed last month, saying it was committed to an all-share merger with U.S. rival Entegris agreed in January.

Merck on Tuesday kept its offer price unchanged at $48 per share in cash. That compares with an offer of $38.8 worth of Entegris stock for each Versum share under the existing deal, based on Entegris’ closing price of $34.68 on Monday.

“The Versum Board’s hasty rejection of our proposal and unwillingness to engage in discussions with us has forced us to take this proposal directly to shareholders,” family-controlled Merck said in a letter to Versum shareholders after filing definitive proxy materials with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

For diversified Merck, controlled by descendants of the group’s 17th century founder, this marks the first hostile takeover attempt since its 2006 swoop on domestic drugs rival Schering, which Bayer eventually snatched up for 17 billion euros.

The move is also the first major hostile takeover attempt by a German company for a U.S. target since BASF’s 2006 approach for catalytic converter maker Engelhard, which ended up being an agreed deal.

Merck’s offer will run until June 7, the letter said. A Merck spokesman said the offer would be conditional on Merck winning over investors with combined holdings of more than 50 percent of Versum shares.

Merck said Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas Fortis and Deutsche Bank had committed financing for a Versum acquisition.

Versum’s shares closed at $49.67 on Monday, reflecting hopes of a higher bid. Merck shares were up 0.9 percent.

Merck is building a high-tech chemicals division, called Performance Materials, that caters to the electronics industry.

A major part of that is its liquid crystals business, which used to enjoy operating income margins of 40-50 percent but is now seeing sales shrink amid pressure from Chinese rivals.

Both Merck and Entegris are seen as trying to seize on beaten down stock prices in the volatile semiconductor industry after demand for mobile devices slowed and prices for memory chips sank. Versum, which makes chemicals for the semiconductor industry, has seen a 27 percent drop in its shares in 2018.

The main rivals in the fragmented market for chemicals used in electronics include DuPont, Honeywell , Hitachi Chemical, Shin-Etsu, according to UBS analysts.

Merck is diversified across three separate businesses, including a pharmaceuticals unit, which struck a 3.7 billion euro collaboration deal with GlaxoSmithKline last month, and a life science division that makes supplies and gear for biotech labs.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Tassilo Hummel and Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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EU urges Sri Lanka not to end moratorium on death penalty

The European Union is urging Sri Lanka not to end its four-decade moratorium on the death penalty, saying capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to counter illicit drugs and related crimes.

Monday's statement from the EU comes a week after Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena announced that dates have been set for the country's first executions in 43 years amid rising alarm over drug-related crimes.

Sri Lanka last executed a prisoner in 1976. Currently, 1,299 prisoners are on death row, including 48 convicted of drug offenses

Authorities have intensified a crackdown on narcotics to deter smugglers from using the Indian Ocean island nation as a transit point for distribution in the region.

Source: Fox News World

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Legal Experts: Hacking Charge Undercuts Any ‘Free Speech’ Defense for Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has portrayed himself as a champion of a free press, but the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to charge him with conspiring to hack government computers limits his ability to mount a vigorous free speech defense, some legal experts said.

The charge unsealed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday said that in 2010 Assange agreed to help Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst then known as Bradley Manning, crack a password to a U.S. government network.

At the time, Manning had already given WikiLeaks classified information about U.S. war activities in both Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Guantanamo Bay detainees, prosecutors said. The scheme would have allowed Manning to log in to the network anonymously and avoid detection, the indictment said.

Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas, said that the case did not implicate free speech rights because it turned on the idea that Assange tried to hack a password.

"The charge is extremely narrow and that's by design," said Chesney.

U.S. prosecutors could still add charges against Assange, legal experts said.

The indictment, which was made secretly last year and released on Thursday, does not charge Assange for publishing classified material. WikiLeaks released the classified war information on its website in 2010 and 2011.

There is no mention in the indictment of WikiLeaks' publication of emails damaging to 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that U.S. intelligence agencies have said were stolen by Russia in a bid to boost Republican Donald Trump's candidacy.

British police carried Assange out of Ecuador's embassy in London on Thursday after his seven-year asylum there was revoked. The U.S. Department of Justice said Assange, 47, was arrested under an extradition treaty between the United States and Britain.

Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Assange, suggested in a statement that the indictment could chill press freedom, saying journalists should be "deeply troubled" by the "unprecedented" charges.

"While the indictment against Julian Assange disclosed today charges a conspiracy to commit computer crimes, the factual allegations against Mr. Assange boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source," Pollack said.

Assange has long said WikiLeaks is a journalistic endeavor protected by freedom of the press laws. In 2017, a U.K. tribunal recognized WikiLeaks as a "media organization."

The Justice Department debated for years whether prosecuting Assange and WikiLeaks would encroach on First Amendment protections, according to former officials.

The department under President Barack Obama made a conscious decision not to bring charges against Assange on the grounds that WikiLeaks' activities were too similar to what conventional journalists do, the former officials said.

The charge against Assange of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion minimized concerns that freedom of the press would be undermined and made it more difficult for him to argue that his free speech rights were at stake, some legal experts said.

"A lot of the broader legal and policy implications have been alleviated by how narrowly tailored this indictment is," said Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer in Washington who represents whistleblowers and journalists.

Free speech advocates had worried that Assange would be prosecuted for publishing classified information he obtained from Manning in violation of the Espionage Act.

It is not unusual for journalists to publish classified material they obtain from sources and such a prosecution against Assange would have raised concerns that reporters could face similar charges, according to Steve Vladeck, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas.

Assange is likely to argue that the conspiracy charge was a pretext and the government really is prosecuting him for the publication of classified documents, lawyers not involved in the case said.

David Miller, a former federal prosecutor in New York and Virginia, said Assange's defense would likely face "an uphill battle" assuming the government's proof of communications and contacts with Manning is strong.

Prosecutors will emphasize that cracking a password is far outside the realm of what respectable journalists do, Chesney at the University of Texas said.

"All of this turns on the idea that Assange tries to hack a password," Chesney said. "That's not journalism, that's theft."

Manning was convicted by court martial in 2013 of espionage and other offenses for furnishing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks. Obama, in his last days in office, commuted the final 28 years of Manning’s 35-year sentence.

Source: NewsMax America

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Hungarian PM Orban launches campaign with anti-migrant plan

Hungary's prime minister is launching his party's campaign for the European Parliamentary elections in May by presenting a seven-point plan against immigration.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday called for migration to be controlled by national governments, not European Union bureaucrats. He repeated his view that no country should be forced to accept immigrants against its will.

Orban also urged the EU to stop funding civic groups that support asylum-seekers and said "no one in Europe should suffer discrimination" because they are Christians.

Orban also lashed out again at EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, saying he was "firmly responsible" for Britain's Brexit morass and "the migrant invasion."

All EU nations will hold national votes for lawmakers for the European Parliament from May 23-26. Hungary's vote is May 26.

Source: Fox News World

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Steelers release veteran S Burnett

FILE PHOTO: Green Bay Packers' Burnett reacts after getting interception against Minnesota Vikings during their NFL football game in Green Bay
FILE PHOTO: Green Bay Packers safety Morgan Burnett reacts after getting an interception against the Minnesota Vikings during their second half of a NFL football game in Green Bay, Wisconsin December 2, 2012. Packers defeated the Vikings 23-14. REUTERS/Darren Hauck

April 1, 2019

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced the release of veteran safety Morgan Burnett on Monday.

Burnett, 30, played in 11 games in his only season with Pittsburgh in 2018, finishing with 30 tackles, six passes defensed and no interceptions.

He signed a three-year, $14.4 million contract with the Steelers in March 2018. He would have counted $6.5 million against the 2019 salary cap, but Pittsburgh saves $3.6 million by releasing him.

Burnett reportedly didn’t like his role as a dime linebacker in Pittsburgh and had asked to be released from his contract in January. The Steelers tried unsuccessfully to find a trade partner before ultimately granting his request.

A third-round pick in 2010, Burnett played his first eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers and has appeared in 113 games (104 starts) with nine interceptions, 7.5 sacks and 747 tackles.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Analysis: Pompeo skirts talk of peace plan on Israel trip

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pays a visit to Israel this week but it's what he's not doing while there that may be the most notable aspect of the trip.

Pompeo doesn't plan to talk publicly about the "deal of the century" that President Donald Trump said he would offer to settle the Israel-Palestinian conflict, a plan so important that he delegated negotiations to his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

"Look, we desperately want a good solution," Pompeo told reporters Tuesday before his plane landed in Kuwait City for the first stop of the trip. "Mr. Kushner's working on the Middle East peace plan. There'll be a right time when we will introduce bigger pieces of that."

Pompeo's Israel itinerary is characteristic of the administration's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been largely private and without participation from the Palestinians.

The secretary won't even meet with any Palestinian officials on this trip, something that would have been routine for any top U.S. diplomat in recent decades.

Pompeo's mere presence in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just weeks before a national election may be symbolic of the administration's political preference, but his main public message will be a familiar one: The U.S. has an unbreakable commitment to Israel's security no matter who's in charge.

"I'm going to Israel because of the important relationship we have," he said. "Leaders will change in both countries over time. That relationship matters no matter who the leaders are."

He said he would spend a good deal of time speaking about the security challenges posed by the conflict in Syria ahead of a sharp reduction in the U.S. presence there, as well as about the longstanding threats Israel faces from Iran and the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

Palestinians wouldn't meet with Pompeo even if he wanted to see them. They have severed ties with the administration over its recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv and slashing hundreds of millions of dollars of aid.

"Political relations with the U.S. administration are broken unless it backs down from its decisions on Jerusalem and refugees and abides by international law," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.

For now, the only apparent interaction between U.S. and Palestinian officialdom seems to be an increasingly frequent stream of tweets from international negotiations envoy Jason Greenblatt, taking issue with Palestinian positions and criticism, most of which he says is incorrect, relies on faulty hearsay or is otherwise intended to deceive.

"The message is that those who spread misinformation about the conflict or the plan are not going to get away with it anymore," said Greenblatt, who is leading the talks with Kushner, in an interview last week. "If you lie or deceive to try to shape public opinion, we're not going to let you do that without a response. We are in the midst of educating, and in some cases, re-educating people."

Greenblatt brushed away criticism of the tweets from former would-be peacemakers and diplomats with experience in the region who say such engagement is undignified.

"In some cases it might be more useful to provide information behind closed doors, but they won't engage with us that way," he said. "But more importantly, they are speaking loudly and publicly, so why should the U.S. not say something publicly and respond to accusations, misinformation or manipulation?"

The peace plan itself doesn't yet exist, at least not outside a small circle of top White House aides led by Kushner and Greenblatt. They insist the plan is real but won't say when it will be presented other than after Israel's April 9 election. But officials note there is only a narrow window between the election, the start of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover in late April and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early May. That means the plan is likely to be delayed further.

In the meantime, Kushner and Greenblatt have begun to preview the nonpolitical elements of the plan to interested parties, including Israelis, Palestinians outside of the Palestinian Authority, Arab countries that will be critical to the economic part of the plan, and the Jewish and evangelical Christian communities in the U.S. that staunchly back Israel.

Administration officials familiar with that outreach say each group has its own issues and concerns. They add that Greenblatt and Kushner have their work cut out for them as they try to promote a peace plan for which they are unwilling to provide details, particularly on the most sensitive parts of what must be in an eventual deal: the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, territorial sovereignty and borders.

Those officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the effort and spoke on condition of anonymity, conceded that early discussions had produced some unease, particularly as Greenblatt and Kushner make clear that both Israel and the Palestinians will have to make hard compromises to achieve peace.

Suggestions that the plan will not explicitly call for a two-state solution, which is favored by most of the international community, and instead offer the Palestinians something less in return for massive economic investment have not sat well with veteran Mideast hands.

"The architects of Trump's deal of the century believe that's old think," said Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and the second of the Obama administration's three Mideast peace envoys. "Their idea is that the Palestinians can be persuaded to forgo their national aspirations in return for normalcy and prosperity funded by the Arab states."

Yet administration officials believe the mood in the region has changed, that Arab nations have higher priorities and that even if the plan fails it may have benefit in more closely aligning Israeli and Arab interests on Iran.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE_AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee has been covering U.S. foreign policy and international affairs since 1999.

Source: Fox News World

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Trial against Turkish employee of US Consulate set to begin

The trial is set to begin against a Turkish employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul charged with espionage and attempting to overthrow the Turkish government.

Metin Topuz, a translator and fixer for the Drug Enforcement Agency at the consulate, will have his first hearing Tuesday. He has been in pretrial detention since October 2017.

Topuz is accused of links to U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the Turkish government blames for the 2016 coup attempt. He denies the allegations.

Topuz's arrest led to the suspension of bilateral visa services for more than two months in 2017 and is one of several contentious issues increasing tensions between the two NATO allies.

The first hearing in Istanbul is expected to continue until Thursday.

Source: Fox News World

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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
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)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
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)

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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