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California judge rules son of twin gay couple is American citizen

A federal judge in California ruled Thursday that a twin son of a gay married couple has been an American citizen since birth, handing a defeat to the U.S. government, which had only granted the status to his brother.

The State Department was wrong to deny citizenship to 2-year-old Ethan Dvash-Banks because U.S. law does not require a child to show a biological relationship with their parents if their parents were married at the time of their birth, District Judge John F. Walter found.

A lawsuit filed by the boys' parents, Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks, sought the same rights for Ethan that his brother, Aiden, has as a citizen.

Each boy was conceived with donor eggs and the sperm from a different father — one an American, the other an Israeli citizen — but born by the same surrogate mother minutes apart.

The government had only granted citizenship to Aiden, who DNA tests showed was the biological son of Andrew, a U.S. citizen. Ethan was conceived from the sperm of Elad Dvash-Banks, an Israeli citizen.

The suit was one of two filed last year by an LGBTQ immigrant rights group that said the State Department is discriminating against same-sex binational couples by denying their children citizenship at birth. The cases filed in Los Angeles and Washington by Immigration Equality said the children of a U.S. citizen who marries abroad are entitled to U.S. citizenship at birth no matter where they are born, even if the other parent is a foreigner. Only the Los Angeles case was decided Thursday.

The State Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the ruling. Previously the department pointed to guidance on its website that said there must be a biological connection to a U.S. citizen to become a citizen at birth.

"This family was shocked and appalled and angry when they were told their family wasn't legal," said Aaron Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality. "They wanted their twin boys to be treated exactly the same."

Morris said the government wrongly applied a policy for children born out of wedlock to married same-sex couples.

Walter agreed, writing that the State Department statute does not contain language "requiring a 'blood relationship between the person and the father' in order for citizenship to be acquired at birth."

"This is justice! We are hopeful that no other family will ever have to go through this again. It's like a giant rock has been removed from our hearts," Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks said in a statement provided by Immigration Equality.

Andrew Dvash-Banks was studying in Israel when he met his future husband, Elad, an Israeli citizen. Because they couldn't marry at the time in the U.S. or in Israel, they moved to Canada, where they wed in 2010. The children were born by a surrogate in September 2016.

Everything seemed fine until the couple brought their cranky infants to the American consulate in Toronto a few months later to apply for citizenship and the woman at the counter began asking probing questions they found shocking and humiliating.

The consular official told them she had discretion to require a DNA test to show who the biological father was of each boy and without those tests neither son would get citizenship. The men knew that Andrew was Aiden's biological father and Elad was Ethan's but they had kept it a secret and hadn't planned on telling anyone.

After submitting the DNA test results that proved who fathered each boy, the couple received a large and small envelope from the U.S. on March 2. The big one included Aiden's passport. The other was a letter notifying Andrew that Ethan's application had been denied.

The family has since moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Andrew Dvash-Banks' family.

The other case involves two women, one from the U.S., and one from Italy, who met in New York, wed in London and each gave birth to a son. The State Department didn't recognize the couple's marriage, the lawsuit said, and only granted citizenship to the boy whose biological mother was born and raised in the U.S.

Source: Fox News National

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Hungarians start European news agency with pro-Orban content

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban presents the programme of his party for European Parliament elections in Budapest
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban presents the programme of his Fidesz party for European Parliament elections in Budapest, Hungary April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

April 9, 2019

By Marton Dunai

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A small group of Hungarian business leaders and politicians close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban have founded an international news agency in London that aims to cover news especially in central and eastern Europe.

Orban’s associates have gained control over a large chunk of Hungary’s media in recent years and his Fidesz party has taken total control of state media, provoking international accusations that they are weakening freedom of speech.

However, Orban has been unable to control international news coverage, which has been far more critical of him than local media. The new agency’s early content suggests it is more sympathetic to him.

The new company, called V4NA, was registered in London by Hungary’s ambassador to the UK, Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, on Dec. 31, 2018, according to company filings.

Last month, Arpad Habony, Orban’s main spin doctor and eminence grise, acquired a 40 percent stake in V4NA via his London political advisory firm, Danube Business Consulting Ltd.

Subsequently, New Wave Media Group, owned by KESMA, a foundation that controls most of Hungary’s pro-government media, acquired a 57 percent stake from Szalay-Bobrovniczky.

Despite its huge role in the Hungarian media market, KESMA was exempted from regulatory scrutiny last year on grounds that it was a strategic national asset.

V4NA’s name reflects a focus on the Visegrad Four countries – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. It plans to focus more on other centers in the run-up to European Parliament elections due in May.

“Our team of 50 journalists and rapid-response news teams are on location where the leading stories happen in Europe: London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, Bratislava, Warsaw,” the agency says on its web site, V4NA.com.

Most of the site’s content is behind a paywall, but the selection of front-page headlines resonates with the populism of Orban, one of the fiercest critics of immigration to Europe.

“Migrant kills wife after she converts to Christianity,” says one headline from Monday. A report about Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s League, anti-immigrant interior minister and ally of Orban, was headlined “Salvini: Citizens should control Europe”.

“Hungarian minister on EP elections: Hungarian votes also matter” and “Immigration is a war of cultures and civilizations” were headlines that borrowed directly from Orban’s rhetoric.

V4NA and KESMA did not immediately reply to Reuters’ questions. Habony could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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Take Five: The shape of you – world market themes for the week ahead

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

March 29, 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/ YIELD CURVEBALLS

Which is it – growth or gloom? With 10-year U.S. bond yields below 3-month T-bill rates for the first time in more than a decade, recession fears are swirling. After all, an inverted yield curve, when longer-dated yields drop below shorter maturities, have proved to be fairly reliable predictors of U.S. recessions in the past. As a result some investors are busy putting cash behind bets the Fed is gearing up for rate cuts.

But there are many who scoff – they point to a world economy chugging along at a decent clip, dovish central banks and company earnings that are still growing, albeit more slowly. So while Treasury yields are down 30 basis points this quarter, world stocks are up more than 10 percent. Recession skeptics may also note that U.S. equities are not far off record highs and credit spreads have retraced most of their December losses.

Also, while past recession discussions have focused on inversions of the 2-year/10-year U.S. curve, that hasn’t reacted so far. Fed policymakers too, such as voting member John Williams, say they are not worried about recession this year or the next. Others such as James Bullard seem to be endorsing the “this time is different” argument, hinting that the curve’s predictive power has weakened.

But policymakers around the world have already taken heed. The ECB has hinted at further rate cut delays and at tiering interest rates to help banks; other central banks, from New Zealand to Canada, are hinting at rate cuts ahead.

Graphic: U.S. yield curve inverts for first time since 2007 – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UNVc1P

2/THE END OF THE ROAD?

No. No. No. No. Parliament’s cold response to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal so far means the manner of Britain’s exit from the European Union – originally scheduled for March 29 – is unknown.

Brussels has let Britain delay its departure while May battled to find a way forward but there is little enthusiasm in parliament or the population even for the stripped-down version of May’s twice-defeated deal. But lawmakers have also given the thumbs-down to a series of other amendments, including revoking Brexit, delaying it further or holding another referendum.

Dismayed investors have been avoiding the pound but the resulting shortage in trading volumes just exacerbates price swings. The question now is whether the most hardline Conservative euroskeptics and Northern Ireland’s DUP, the party propping up May’s government, can ever be convinced to back an exit deal before the new April 12 deadline.

If the withdrawal agreement does somehow scrape through, sterling would likely surge above $1.35. For the time being though, the bleak, if unlikely, alternative scenario – a chaotic no-deal departure – persists.

Options markets aren’t optimistic. The price investors are willing to pay for one-month sterling protection – insurance against sterling falls – is at the highest since the 2016 referendum vote.

Graphic: GBP risk reversals – https://tmsnrt.rs/2V1piz2

3/WORKIN’ FOR A LIVIN’

U.S. factory job growth was its weakest in February since the summer of 2017 but still managed to extend the streak of monthly gains to 19, the longest in nearly a quarter century. If, as expected, Friday’s March payrolls report makes it 20 in a row – economists polled by Reuters predict a 10,000 increase – it would mark the longest uninterrupted run of manufacturing employment expansion in a generation, matching the run from January 1983 through August 1984.

But while comparable in length, the current manufacturing renaissance pales in terms of total jobs created. Back then, U.S. factories added 1.34 million workers, more than three times the 417,000 new jobs since the current streak began in August 2017.

For early clues on the jobs data, cast an eye on Monday’s ISM Manufacturing Index. Its employment component is closely correlated with the Labor Department’s manufacturing payrolls series. ISM’s February reading on factory employment, at 52.3, was the weakest in more than two years. Should it drop below 50, the level separating expansion from contraction in the ISM series, it could signal an end to manufacturing employment’s long run. The last time ISM had a sub-50 print was September 2016. That month, U.S. factories cut 3,000 jobs.

Graphic: Manufacturing activity in Asia – https://tmsnrt.rs/2WwFc4R

4/DEAL WITH IT

A month has passed since the United States and China missed an initial deadline to agree a trade deal. The first face-to-face meetings between the two sides since that deadline were apparently “constructive” and “productive”; now Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is to travel to Washington for further talks.

In the meantime though, tariffs on Chinese goods worth $250 billion are in play and that is hurting – China as well as its Asian neighbors who are linked to it through complex supply chains. March Purchasing Managers Indexes are expected to show a further deterioration in sentiment across the region and another source of pressure is the worry of a recession in the United States.

The one thing preventing panic is the hope Beijing will provide enough stimulus to offset slowing trade. Central bankers around Asia have started hinting at interest rate cuts, relieved at the end of the Fed’s policy-tightening campaign. But the upcoming activity data might show how soon they need to act.

Graphic: U.S. manufacturing employment – https://tmsnrt.rs/2CIU20R

5/NO THANKSGIVING FOR THIS TURKEY

Last year’s lira crisis tipped Turkey into a painful recession, ended its credit-fueled economic boom and complicated President Tayyip Erdogan’s task of selling his economic success story to voters. They are headed to the ballot box on Sunday for the first time since last year’s currency meltdown.

Polls suggest Erdogan could lose Ankara, the city from which he has ruled Turkey with an increasingly iron grip since 2003. His AK Party could face a tough race in Istanbul, where Erdogan was once mayor. But policymakers’ efforts shore up the currency before the election have run into trouble and moves to curb offshore lira supply has pushed investors into selling Turkish stocks and bonds.

The question now is how quickly policymakers will normalize their approach to markets. And even if they do, will pressure on the lira ease up and can they win back the trust of investors, some of whom will have taken losses from the recent episode? For an economy that’s already reeling how much damage have these unorthodox measures inflicted? And finally, will the stress percolate to European banks active in Turkey? BBVA, Unicredit, ING, HSBC and BNP Paribas all have varying degrees of exposure.

Graphic: Turkey’s FX reserves fall as lira pressure mounts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2OqMwfq

(Reporting by Dan Burns in New York, Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong; Sujata Rao, Tom Finn and Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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It’s Time for a Green Real Deal

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I wish climate change wasn’t real. A melting Arctic creates a more permissive environment for Russia and China to seize territory. Mass migrations of climate refugees erode borders and nations, creating a global playground for terrorists and traffickers. My Florida neighbors are still rebuilding their lives after devastating hurricanes.

The reality of climate change is a stupid thing to argue about. How we respond, however, hasn’t been afforded enough debate.

Congress’ most famous (and most powerful) new member has drafted a Green New Deal. It’s not an action plan — it’s the scope of what she believes Washington should control. Goodbye to cars, cows, airplanes, and buildings. Hello $93 trillion in new spending — excessive, considering our nation already runs trillion-dollar annual deficits against a $21 trillion national debt.

The GND embraces regulation as its organizing principle, but America’s regulations are far less sought-after than our innovations and expertise. More regulations mean we will export pollution-causing jobs overseas, without reducing pollution. The GND would destroy America’s economy, without reducing global emissions.

Despite this, the GND shouldn’t scare anyone, because it will never happen. In the Senate, even the GND’s own sponsors couldn’t bring themselves to vote yes on it.

What America needs is a Green Real Deal — a strategy linked to legislative proposals that can gain broad, bipartisan support. Climate change is too big for one political party to solve alone. We must address it as a nation, rather than lecture from the ivory towers of our own piety.

Let’s start by modernizing our electric grid. The American Society of Civil Engineers graded our grid D+. Today’s grid cannot accommodate fluctuation in capacity, utilization, and availability of our existing renewable portfolio — much less an expanded use of renewables. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory argues that today’s renewable energy technology, coupled with upgraded grid technology, could result in renewable energy meeting 80 percent of America’s energy needs by 2050.

To unlock the potential of American innovation, grid upgrades will facilitate “net metering,” which allows property owners, shopping centers, hospitals, and schools to sell energy they create back to the grid. This creates incentives for corporations to maximize renewable energy production and allows homeowners to lower or eliminate their energy costs by embracing renewable energy.

The grid isn’t the only platform ripe for innovation. The federal government owns 640 million acres of land. Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Raul Grijalva (D-N.M.) have both drafted legislations to harvest more renewable energy on public lands. It’s a bipartisan no-brainer.

The GND assumes that investment in clean energy demands more government. But here, less government is the answer. Today’s cheapest, cleanest energy comes from hydropower. A pro-hydro agenda should cut the maze of red tape. More hydropower means lower costs for consumers, while reducing carbon emissions.

Legacy government-control doctrine also constrains zero-emissions nuclear innovation, particularly where it can replace dirty coal. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission favors big, expensive light-water reactors that cost billions. The NRC won’t fairly consider smaller, reliable modular reactors built at a fraction of the cost, limiting the availability of nuclear power to disadvantaged and rural communities lacking a robust payer base. A more libertarian, technologically inclusive policy would democratize nuclear use, reduce carbon emissions, and allow American companies to capture the global modular-nuclear market.

The GRD rejects the fiction that Washington alone can solve problems. States should be encouraged to create tax incentives for energy production and efficiency upgrades, as Florida has. By supporting individual responsibility over government control, every American can be rewarded when the carbon footprint shrinks.

America’s solar technology once led the world. Not anymore. China stole American intellectual property, replicated our products, and undercut American solar companies. President Trump’s tariffs against Chinese solar panels were a good start, but we must become more aggressive in defense of American innovators.

Americans always rise to the challenge when we empower individuals and deconstruct the limitations on our potential. Climate change is real. A response doesn’t demand subjugating our lives to expansive government control. It requires a Green Real Deal.

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Meadows, Jordan probe House Dems' alleged leak of Kushner, Ivanka Trump security clearance docs

The top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are demanding to know why the panel's Democratic leadership allegedly leaked key documents concerning Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's security clearances to the media, without bothering to keep Republicans on the committee in the loop and while continuing to press the White House to provide the same documents.

In a letter sent Monday to House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking members Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan raised the alarm over a Mar. 8, 2019 article in Axios, in which reporter Alexi McCammond wrote that a "senior Democratic aide involved in handling the documents" told the outlet that "the House Oversight Committee has obtained documents related to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's security clearances that the Trump administration refused to provide."

McCammond went on to write that Axios had "obtained" one of those documents, which "provides some details about why Kushner's security clearance was changed to 'interim' in September 2017. One document quoted by Axios read: "Per conversation with WH counsel the clearance was changed to interim Top Secret until we can confirm that the DOJ or someone else actually granted a final clearance. This action was taken out of an abundance of caution because the background investigation has not been completed."

Another document, dated Feb. 23, 2018, read simply: "Clearance downgraded to Interim Secret per COS direction" — then-chief of staff John Kelly, according to Axios.

KUSHNER TEAM RESPONDS TO SECURITY CLEARANCE ALLEGATIONS 

The article raised several questions for Jordan, R-Ohio, and Meadows, R-N.C., especially given the oversight panel's repeated requests to the White House, from January through February, for documents pertaining to the security clearance process. Earlier this month, White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote a letter to Cummings rejecting the committee's request for documents as "extraordinarily intrusive," while asserting that Cummings has rejected reasonable compromises.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump make their way to board Marine One before departing from South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on October 30, 2018. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump make their way to board Marine One before departing from South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on October 30, 2018. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

"We first learned about these documents from Axios’s reporting," Meadows and Jordan wrote to Cummings. "However, according to the article, the Committee had been in possession of the documents since early February. The article quoted a 'senior Democratic aide' as characterizing the documents as 'part of the puzzle that we would be asking for.' Axios reported that it had even obtained access to at least one of these documents."

The Republicans continued: "Axios’s reporting, if accurate, is concerning for two reasons. First, if you already possessed in early February the documents that you 'would be asking for' from the White House, there would be no legitimate oversight basis to renew your request that the White House produce these documents to the Committee on February 11, 2019.

"Second, and most troubling, the Axios article—if accurate—suggests a departure from the Committee’s historical practice of sharing documents that will be made publicly available," the GOP representatives added. "The Axios article suggests the reporter 'obtained' a document from a larger group of documents provided to the Committee. If accurate, the story seems to suggest that you made these documents available to the press. We have yet to receive this same courtesy."

"These actions are not indicative of the objective, fact-based oversight you promised."

— GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows

By not sharing documents with Republicans on the committee, Meadows and Jordan wrote, Cummings had deprived the panel's GOP minority of the "opportunity to participate in and be aware of the Committee’s work."

"Without access to these documents, we cannot determine whether the information in the Axios story is cherry-picked, inaccurate, or out of context," they wrote. "In addition, the disclosure of documents to the press so early in an investigation undercuts the sincerity of the Committee’s investigation. By providing documents to the media before the Committee issues any reports or holds any hearings, one may conclude that the Committee is seeking documents for future public disclosure to harass and embarrass the President and his senior advisors."

Meadows and Jordan charged that "this conduct seems to be part of a larger trend," noting that "as the star witness of your first big hearing, you invited Michael Cohen, a convicted liar who then lied to the Committee several times under oath."

They concluded with a demand for the documents, and an admonition: "These actions are not indicative of the objective, fact-based oversight you promised."

Late last month, a spokesman for Kushner's attorney told Fox News that President Trump's son-in-law received a top-secret security clearance through "the regular process with no pressure from anyone," after The New York Times reported that Trump "ordered" then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to grant the clearance against the advice of then-White House Counsel Don McGhan.

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Fox News reported in May 2018 that Kushner had obtained a full security clearance. He had been working at the White House with an interim security clearance for the better part of a year, through late February 2018. That month, Kushner's interim clearance was downgraded from "interim top secret" to "interim secret" after Kelly set a Feb. 23, 2018, deadline for halting access to top-secret information for those whose applications have been pending since June 1, 2017, or earlier.

The Times report, which cited "four people briefed on the matter," said that Trump told Kelly to grant Kushner a top-secret clearance the day after the White House Counsel's Office recommended that he not be given one. The report claimed that Kelly was so disturbed by Trump's command that he wrote an internal memo stating that he had been "ordered" to give Kushner the clearance.

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Amnesty faults electric vehicle batteries as carbon intensive

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amnesty International is seen next to director of Mujeres En Linea Luisa Kislinger, during a news conference in Caracas
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amnesty International is seen next to director of Mujeres En Linea Luisa Kislinger, during a news conference to announce the results of an investigation into humans rights abuses committed in Venezuela during protests against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jass

March 21, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Amnesty International attacked the electric vehicle (EV) industry on Thursday for selling itself as environmentally friendly while producing many of its batteries using polluting fossil fuels and unethically sourced minerals.

Manufacturing batteries can be carbon intensive, while the extraction of minerals used in them has been linked to human rights violations such as child labor, a statement from the rights group said.

“Electric vehicles are key to shifting the motor industry away from fossil fuels, but they are currently not as ethical as some retailers would like us to believe,” it said, announcing the initiative at the Nordic Electric Vehicle Summit in Oslo.

Production of lithium-ion batteries for EVs is power intensive, and factories are concentrated in China, South Korea and Japan, where power generation is largely dependent on coal or other fossil fuels, Amnesty said.

Global automakers are investing billions of dollars to ramp up electric vehicle production. German giant Volkswagen for one plans to raise annual production of electric cars to 3 million by 2025, from 40,000 in 2018.

Amnesty demanded the EV industry come up with an ethical and clean battery within five years and in the meantime that carbon footprints be disclosed and supply chains of key minerals identified.

Last month, a letter seen by Reuters showed that 14 non-governmental organizations including Amnesty and Global Witness had opposed plans by the London Metal Exchange to ban cobalt tainted by human rights abuses.

Instead of banning the cobalt brands, the LME should work with firms that produce them to ensure responsible souring, they said.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Source: OANN

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Federalist editor sees need to know Mueller probe’s full origins

Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist, says that though many think it’s important to move on from the Mueller report following Thursday’s expected release, one aspect that calls for further exploration is how it all began.

“People talk about moving on. That's important because there are serious policy issues that fixing our border and other things Congress needs to work on -- but how did the investigation ever start?” Hemingway said on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Wednesday.

MUELLER'S QUESTIONS FOR TRUMP

“It was used, not just during the campaign but in the interim, before he [Trump] became president and for the first two years of his administration, to undermine him," she said. "It affected foreign policy and his ability to get things done.”

Hemingway emphasized that answers were needed in order to avoid a recurrence of the circumstances behind the inquiry.

“People need to make sure the report is put into context. It is not just there was a legitimate reason to look into Russia collusion and there were no indictments ... for Russia collusion or obstruction, but a story about how people weaponized information and used it to go after political opponents,” Hemingway told Baier.

“That absolutely must be looked into. We absolutely need to get answers so that it doesn't happen again and the people who did it are held accountable.”

Barr will release a redacted version of Mueller's full investigative report on Thursday morning.

Democrats are expected to file subpoenas to see what's behind the redactions.

Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley said Democrats will continue to second-guess the report, but its findings will stand.

“Clearly the Democrats are very upset by this finding. I think what we are going to see is them combing through this report second-guessing Mueller's findings on no collusion, second-guessing the Justice Department decision that there was no obstruction of justice because there was no underlying crime, and you will see Trump's team push back and say pick it apart all you want,” Riley said.

“Doesn't change the central conclusions, no collusion and no obstruction.”

TRUMP LEGAL TEAM PREPARES MUELLER COUNTER-REPORT ON OBSTRUCTION ALLEGATIONS

Amy Walter, national editor of the Cook Political Report, added that no matter what the report says Thursday, it will have no bearing on how the public views President Trump. “His approval ratings, disapproval ratings haven't moved much given the many things that have happened over the last two years.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London
FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 15, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Ailing British retailer Debenhams said two proposed company voluntary arrangements (CVA) could see all its stores remaining open during 2019, with 22 closures planned for next year, putting about 1,200 jobs at risk.

Debenhams’ lenders took control of the retailer earlier this month in a process designed to keep its shops open at the expense of shareholders.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London
FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London, Britain, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

April 26, 2019

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Chinese brands controlled a record 66 percent of Indian smartphone market in the first quarter, led by Xiaomi Corp, a report showed, with volumes rising 20 percent on the back of popularity for brands like Vivo, RealMe and Oppo.

Xiaomi’s India shipments fell by 2 percent over last year, but the Beijing-based company was still the biggest smartphone brand in the country, followed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, according to Hong-Kong based Counterpoint Research.

Shipment volumes for Vivo jumped 119 percent, while those of Oppo rose 28 percent.

“Vivo’s expanding portfolio in the mid-tier range ($100 to $180) drove its growth along with aggressive Indian Premier League cricket campaign,” Counterpoint analysts said.

India is the world’s fastest growing market for smartphones, where affordable pricing coupled with features like “selfie” cameras and big screens have popularized Chinese brands.

Video streaming services like Netflix Inc and Hotstar, as well as heavy usage of messaging apps like Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp have further spurred demand.

“Data consumption is on the rise and users are upgrading their phones faster as compared to other regions,” Counterpoint’s Tarun Pathak said.

“As a result of this, the premium specs are now diffusing faster into the mid-tier price brands. We estimate this trend to continue leading to a competitive mid-tier segment in coming quarters.”

(Reporting By Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Source: OANN

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Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here’s a look at what you need to know today …

EXCLUSIVE: Trump says ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden doesn’t have what it takes

President Trump, in a wide-ranging, exclusive phone interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, dismissed the launch of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, nicknaming him “Sleepy Joe” and saying he’s “not the brightest bulb.” Biden, the president said, has name recognition but he won’t “be able to do the job.” When asked about Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Trump criticized his record, saying Sanders had “misguided energy” and asserted that Sanders “talks a lot” but hasn’t accomplished anything. The president referred to former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas as “a fluke” who had lost much momentum and outright dismissed Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — although he said he was “rooting” for Buttigieg. (Trump could address Biden and the other Democratic presidential candidates when he speaks today before the National Rifle Association.)

The Democratic Party’s youth movement: Biden’s biggest challenge?
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Howard Dean warned Joe Biden about the troubles he may face in his presidential campaign, especially from the “35-year-olds” who Dean says have been running the party — a clear nod to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and fellow freshmen Democrats. “This is a very different party than even the party Joe Biden ran in in 2012. Very different,” Dean continued. “A lot of people could win this race. There’s 20 people in there. I think it’s going to take $20 million to get to the starting line. If you can’t raise $20 million, you’re gone, and I think that’s going to take care of about six or eight of these folks. … But it is not the same party that it was five years ago.” A progressive political group that boosted Ocasio-Cortez’s bid for Congress last year vowed to oppose Biden and blasted him as part of the “old guard.”

More tales from the FBI texts
Text messages between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page indicate they discussed using briefings to the Trump team after the 2016 election to identify people they could “develop for potential relationships,” track lines of questioning and “assess” changes in “demeanor” – language one GOP lawmaker called “more evidence” of irregular conduct in the original Russia probe. Fox News has learned the texts, initially released in 2018 by a Senate committee, are under renewed scrutiny, with GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security Committee chair Ron Johnson sending a letter Thursday night to Attorney General Bill Barr pushing for more information on the matter. President Trump, speaking on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night, responded to this report by accusing Strzok and Page of an attempted “coup.” “They were trying to infiltrate the administration,” he said.

Kim accuses US of acting in ‘bad faith’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fresh off his summit with  Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S. has been acting in “bad faith” since his Hanoi meeting with President Trump over the stalemated issue of North Korean denuclearization. The North Korean leader told the Korean Central News Agency that, “the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point,” the Straits Times of Singapore reported. Kim warned that the situation “may return to its original state as the U.S. took a unilateral attitude in bad faith at the recent second DPRK-US summit talks,” the Korean Central News Agency added.

NFL Draft 2019: It’s all about defense
The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft saw a run on defensive players, with eight of the top 12 picks in Nashville coming from that side of the ball. After Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was taken first overall by the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers started a run of four straight front-seven players by taking Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa with the second overall pick — the highest draft slot for any Buckeye since left tackle Orlando Pace went No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams in 1997.

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TODAY’S MUST-READS
Fox News’ Ed Henry recalls spending time with Celtics great John Havlicek.
Massachusetts judge accused of helping illegal immigrant evade ICE pleads not guilty.
Rosenstein slams Obama administration for choosing ‘not to publicize full story’ of Russia hacking.
F.H. Buckley: What Democrats have forgotten about citizenship.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Amazon crushes earnings expectations, but revenue growth slows.
Low-tax states among best places to make a living in 2019.
Construction job market booming: These states are hiring.

#TheFlashback
2018: Bill Cosby is convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004; it is the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
1986: An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine causes radioactive fallout to spew into the atmosphere. (Dozens of people are killed in the immediate aftermath of the disaster while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is believed to number in the thousands.)
1977: Notorious nightclub Studio 54 opens in New York.

SOME PARTING WORDS

Watch the “Special Report” panel take a look at former Vice President Joe Biden’s decision to run for president a third time and the battle for the “soul” of America.

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CLICK HERE to find out what’s on Fox News programming today and over the weekend!

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News’ Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day and weekend! We’ll see you in your inbox first thing Monday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

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Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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German carmaker Daimler endured a weak start to the year, echoing troubles at other major manufacturers, as sales in the big Chinese market stuttered.

The company said Friday that its net income fell to 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in the first quarter from 2.3 billion euros during the same period a year earlier, while revenue dipped to 39.7 billion euros from 39.8 billion euros.

Vehicle sales fell 4% to 773,800 units, with a double-digit percentage drop in China offsetting gains in other markets like the U.S. and Europe.

The company said there were also problems with high inventories and bottlenecks in the supply chain.

Chairman Dieter Zetsche said that “we cannot and will not be satisfied with this — as expected — moderate start to the year.”

Source: Fox News World

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