FILE PHOTO: Feb 5, 2019; Boston, MA, USA; New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft holds the Lombardi Trophy and waves to fans during the Super Bowl LIII championship parade. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports
February 22, 2019
(Reuters) – Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, was charged with solicitation as part of a prostitution bust in Jupiter, Florida, on Friday, local media reported, citing police officials.
Since Kraft bought the Patriots 25 years ago, the team has become the most successful franchise in the National Football League, winning six Super Bowls, including Super Bowl LIII earlier this month.
Former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld, charged with homicide in the shooting death of Antwon Rose II, arrives at the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
PITTSBURGH – The Latest on the homicide trial of a white Pennsylvania police officer in the shooting of an unarmed black 17-year-old (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
A woman who saw a white police officer shoot and kill an unarmed black teenager is testifying at his homicide trial.
Debra Jones is telling jurors that she saw East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld shoot Antwon Rose II as the 17-year-old high school student fled a traffic stop. Rosfeld had stopped the car Rose was riding in because it had been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier.
Jones says she saw Rose lying face down and in handcuffs 20 minutes after the shooting. She says Rosfeld stood off to the side with other officers, upset and crying.
The defense says the shooting was justified.
Rosfeld's trial opened Tuesday.
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11:55 a.m.
Opening statements have been delivered in the homicide trial of a white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager near Pittsburgh last summer.
Prosecutors say former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld gave inconsistent statements after he shot and killed 17-year-old Antwon Rose II, including that he thought Rose had a gun.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Fitzsimmons told jurors Tuesday that "what really, really matters is what Michael Rosfeld knew and what he believed and what he thought when he pulled the trigger."
Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said Rosfeld did not intend to shoot anyone that day.
Rosfeld shot Rose three times after pulling over a car Rose was riding in. Another passenger in the car had committed a drive-by shooting minutes earlier.
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This item has been corrected to show the drive-by shooting took place minutes before Rose was shot, not hours.
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9:10 a.m.
Relatives of Antwon Rose say they are "seeking the justice they so deserve" as a white police officer goes on trial in the fatal shooting of the unarmed black teenager.
A statement released Tuesday by family attorney Fred Rabner says Michael Rosfeld was "hair-triggered" and "overly aggressive" when he killed the 17-year-old high school student during a traffic stop in East Pittsburgh last year.
Rosfeld is charged with homicide. His lawyers have said he thought someone in the unlicensed taxicab that Rose was riding in had pulled a gun on him.
Rabner represents the family in a wrongful death suit against Rosfeld, the borough and its mayor and police chief.
The family statement says Rosfeld's service weapon "left an irreparable hole in their collective souls."
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1:30 a.m.
A white Pennsylvania police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager last year is headed to trial in a case that could put him behind bars for life.
Lawyers for 30-year-old former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld are expected to argue that the June shooting of Antwon Rose II was justified.
The trial starts Tuesday morning and is expected to last about a week.
Rosfeld is charged with criminal homicide for shooting 17-year-old Rose in the face, elbow and back.
Authorities have said Rose had an empty ammunition clip in his pants when he was killed but not a weapon.
Police say Rosfeld made conflicting statements, including that he saw something in Rose's hand that Rosfeld thought was a gun.
Appearing Thursday on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time, former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper said special counsel Robert Mueller’s report is “devastating” and provides a “road map” for impeachment of President Donald Trump despite exonerating him of criminal conspiracy with Russia.
CHRIS CUOMO: First of all, your take on how the AG has handled this process culminating today?
JAMES CLAPPER: Well, to be honest Chris, I’m a bit disappointed. I think the Attorney General is clearly trying to paint as favorable a light on the Mueller report as possible and when you read it, it’s pretty devastating. I’ll tell you though, the big deal for me in this is laying out in very rich detail the magnitude and pervasiveness of the Russia interference in our election in 2016. And it’s personally gratifying because the intelligence community’s assessment that we rendered on January 6th of 2017, briefed President-elect Trump on about the Russia interference. But this report, we only scratched the surface and I hope Americans will take the time to read that, the collusion, obstruction aside. The big deal to me is the magnitude of the Russian interference. No one can say they didn’t interfere and, in fact, taint the election.
CUOMO: And like the president did on the world stage with Putin right by his side, where he said, “I don’t know why it would be Russia,” and then they tried to say after that he said “wouldn’t.” That was about as clumsy as all the other cover-ups that we see in this report. They knew there was interference, they tried to benefit from it. They did things that were wrong. They lied about the same. But those don’t equate with crimes. So, Mr. Clapper, where does that leave us in terms of what to do with that information? What would be a righteous move by Congress?
CLAPPER: It really is a conundrum as others have commented earlier, particularly for the Democrats, the Democrats in the House, whether to pursue this in terms of impeachment. Clearly, at least my read of the Mueller report is that there is a road map laid out there if the Congress chooses to follow it.
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo shows Boeing airplanes, many of which are grounded 737 MAX aircraft, at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
March 28, 2019
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Trade Organization said on Thursday the United States had ignored a request to withdraw subsidized tax breaks to Boeing in its main planemaking state of Washington as a 15-year-old transatlantic trade row edges towards tit-for-tat sanctions.
The European Union said the WTO appeal ruling had vindicated its claims that Boeing continued to receive subsidies that had been found to be illegal, but the United States said only one measure, a Washington state tax break worth around $100 million annually, had been found to violate the rules.
(Reporting by Tom Miles, editing by Stephanie Nebehay)
Lizeth Guadalupe Ramirez, 20, was arrested after she allegedly assaulted her husband for not responding when she asked if she was pretty. (Webb County Sheriff's Office)
A woman in Texas allegedly assaulted her common-law husband after he didn't respond when she asked if she was pretty.
Lizeth Guadalupe Ramirez, 20, was arrested late Tuesday after the alleged incident, the Laredo Morning Times reported, citing police. She allegedly told investigators the man assaulted her and tried to strangle her.
However, the common-law husband reportedly told a different story, telling police the couple was at a movie theater when she asked him if she looked pretty.
Ramirez's husband said he didn't respond — as he didn't hear her — which upset Ramirez, and prompted them to leave the theater.
During their ride home, Ramirez's husband claimed she allegedly hit him repeatedly. At their home, she allegedly continued to hit him and even assaulted a family member who tried to intervene, according to the news outlet.
Ramirez was charged with two counts of assault and family violence, online Webb County jail records indicated.
Victoria Ruvolo’s tale of survival garnered headlines after she worked with prosecutors to grant clemency to the teenager who threw the frozen bird.<br> (Fox News)
The Long Island woman who was nearly killed in 2004 when a teenager randomly chucked a frozen turkey through her car windshield died on Monday.
Victoria Ruvolo’s tale of survival garnered headlines after she worked with prosecutors to grant clemency to the teenager who threw the frozen bird.
Her death was announced on her website and Facebook page on Tuesday. She was 59 years old.
“It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the sudden and unexpected passing of our beloved Vickie,” the note on her Facebook page read.
In November 2004, a group of teenagers used a stolen credit card to buy the 20-pound turkey in Ronkonkoma, Long Island. They then climbed into a car and drove onto Sunrise Highway.
During the trip, 18-year-old Ryan Cushing threw the bird out of the car and into Ruvolo’s windshield.
The impact broke every bone in Ruvolo’s face, which required a 10-hour surgery, three titanium plates, and a wire mesh for her left eye socket to correct.
The teens were arrested shortly after the assault, and several of them agreed to testify against Cushing. He would have faced up to 25 years in prison if he was convicted of throwing the turkey at Ruvolo’s car.
Instead, Ruvolo intervened on his behalf and worked with his lawyer to get him amnesty for the crime.
“Some people couldn’t understand why I’d done this but I felt God had given me a second chance and I wanted to pass it on,” Ruvolo wrote on her website after the ordeal.
Cushing was sentenced to a six-month prison sentence and five years of probation.
Ruvolo became an inspirational speaker and went on to work for the Forgiveness Project in Long Island.
“Forgive someone today,” the death announcement on her website reads.
Dragging on the investigations about President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice probe that cleared him of conspiring with the Russians is a bad idea, Attorney Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax TV.
Dershowitz was on Monday's "Newsmax Now" to discuss the news that special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation concluded Trump did not work with Russia to win the 2016 election.
"I don't approve of the effort to try to retaliate against bad investigations with more bad investigations," Dershowitz said. "I think we should have mutual disarmament. Put the investigations behind us. Let the government govern, let the legislature legislate, let the president act presidential.
"I think enough investigations. I'm not in favor of continued investigations on either side."
Democrats have vowed to continue digging into Trump's past despite Mueller clearing him of conspiracy. Mueller, a former FBI director, could not definitively rule whether Trump obstructed justice by firing James Comey as FBI director nearly two years ago.
Some Republicans now want to probe the Russia probe to determine whether the FISA Court warrants obtained by the Department of Justice under former President Barack Obama were justified.
Dershowitz said he thinks there should be an investigation related to the FISA warrants.
"The one area where I think investigation may be warranted is whether or not Justice Department officials misled the FISA Court by submitting the dossier without fully alerting them to the sources of the dossier and the lack of credibility of the person who wrote it," he said.
"And the FISA Court might consider having contempt of court proceedings to determine whether or not they were deliberately misled because misleading a court, particularly a court like the FISA Court, is really very dangerous to democracy."
Later during the interview, Dershowitz declared Trump "completely vindicated and exonerated."
"The only question is obstruction of justice, we have to wait and see what the evidence is," he said. "I suspect I know what it is, and it will be bogus. You can't indict a president or charge a president for firing somebody. That's within his constitutional authority."
Important:Newsmax TV is now carried in 65 million cable homes on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Comcast/Xfinity Ch. 1115, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615 or More Systems Here.
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo
April 26, 2019
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth is running at a 1.1% pace in the second quarter as the gains in exports and inventories recorded in the first quarter are expected to reverse, Morgan Stanley economists said on Friday.
“Our preliminary expectations for growth in the second quarter sees large drags from net exports and inventories after their contributions in 1Q,” they wrote in a research note.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first three months of the year, driven by a smaller trade deficit and the largest accumulation of unsold merchandise since 2015, the Commerce Department said earlier Friday.
FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Within hours of the collapse of merger talks with Commerzbank, Christian Sewing scrambled to convince investors and employees that Deutsche Bank can stand on its own two feet.
The Deutsche Bank chief executive told staff, many of whom opposed a merger because of significant job losses, that while he had not been “skeptical” about the Commerzbank talks, he was cautious about the chances of success from the start.
And another top Deutsche Bank executive said on Friday that it had been Commerzbank that initiated the talks, suggesting there was no desperation on their part for a deal.
Commerzbank denied that version of events, ending the apparent truce between the normally highly competitive cross-town Frankfurt rivals over the past six weeks.
German hopes of creating a national banking champion able to challenge global competitors were finally dashed on Thursday when Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended their talks due to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands.
For Sewing, the failure to clinch a deal has left the 49-year-old chief executive of Germany’s largest bank, who took over just over a year ago, with his back to the wall.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded Deutsche Bank last year, said on Friday that Deutsche Bank “will remain under strain”, adding that it “seems to have acknowledged the need to adjust its strategy”.
Under Sewing, a new leadership has tried to revive Deutsche Bank’s fortunes, but it has faced money laundering allegations and failed stress tests, as well as ratings downgrades.
At the heart of the debate over its future is whether it should focus its business on Germany and draw a line under its costly global ambitions to take on Wall Street’s big guns.
“MARKET PLAY”
Without a deal, Deutsche Bank now finds itself back at the mercy of equity and debt markets, with UBS analysts warning that in a “stress scenario” it could again “be forced into a ‘debt-driven capital increase’ even with solid capital ratios”.
“Deutsche remains a levered market play vulnerable to external events,” the UBS analysts said in a note.
Sewing, along with many analysts, believes Deutsche Bank can go it alone in the short-term, but will be counting on a turnaround in market conditions to do so in the long-run given its dependence on volatile investment bank earnings.
“To reach our return objective, we also need to see a revenue recovery in our more market-sensitive business,” Sewing said on Friday after reporting results.
“These revenues are available to us in better market conditions given our leading positions in many of these businesses, but we need to capture them,” he added.
Revenue at Deutsche Bank’s bond trading division fell 19 percent in the first quarter, it said on Friday, underscoring weakness at its investment bank.
If those earnings do not improve, Berlin’s desire to keep its biggest bank out of foreign hands may start to wane.
“Germany’s globally active companies need competitive financial institutions that can support them around the world,” German finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.
(Writing by Alexander Smith; Editing by Keith Weir)
Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli reacts to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City, Panama April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Erick Marciscano
April 26, 2019
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama’s electoral tribunal has ruled that former President Ricardo Martinelli, who is awaiting trial on wiretapping charges, cannot take part in elections on May 5 in which he was running for mayor of Panama City and a seat in Congress, a spokesman for Martinelli said on Friday.
“The ruling of the electoral tribunal has disqualified him as candidate,” said the spokesman, Eduardo Camacho, calling the court’s ruling a “political decision.”
Officials at the tribunal did not immediately confirm the ruling, which also was reported in local media in Panama.
Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon who ran the Central American country from 2009 to 2014, was extradited to Panama last June from the United States and charged with spying on 150 people, including politicians, union leaders and journalists.
A judge had previously cleared Martinelli to run for mayor of the capital. His critics vowed to appeal that decision.
(Reporting by Elida Moreno and Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Bill Trott)
FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
April 26, 2019
(Reuters) – Shares of Walmart, Target and other U.S. retailers fell on Friday as Amazon.com Inc unveiled a one-day delivery plan for its Prime members in a move to further disrupt the fiercely competitive retail landscape.
The e-commerce giant’s announcement on Thursday could cause other brands, manufacturers, retailers, and logistics companies to have to invest more aggressively to compete with Amazon and its delivery, analysts said.
Retailers in recent years have poured billions into ecommerce and faster shipping options and are trying to close the gap with Amazon.
“This is about making it more expensive to catch up and affirms our world view that only the largest and smartest will survive,” Bernstein analyst Brandon Fletcher said.
The move is expected to heighten consumer expectations on e-commerce delivery just like Amazon did with its two-day shipping option for members of its loyalty club Prime, noted analysts.
“The faster you ship, the more people buy,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said.
The challenge for non-Amazon players was that very few of the existing logistics and parcel delivery players now have the ability to do nationwide one-day delivery, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said.
“And even fewer can do it at the vast scale and reasonable cost that AMZN would need for Prime delivery,” Nowak said in a note.
Walmart Inc’s shares fell about 3 percent, while Target Corp dropped about 5 percent in morning trade.
Shares of Kohl’s Corp, Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc fell about 1 percent. Grocer Kroger Co was nearly 3 percent lower, while consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Inc dropped 2.1 percent.
(Reporting by Soundarya J and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)
April 26, 2019
By April Joyner
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.
Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.
Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.
“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”
The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.
Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.
A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.
“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”
Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.
CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.
To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.
A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.
Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.
“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.
(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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