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FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles addresses the Economic Club of New York in New York City, U.S., October 18, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By Michelle Price
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. financial industry must accelerate efforts to move away from the scandal-plagued Libor reference interest rate, Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles said on Wednesday, adding that the regulator was scrutinizing banks’ transition plans.
The United States and other key markets have until 2021 to replace the dominant Libor money market rate – the reference rate for more than $350 trillion of assets globally – which is being phased out after a series of manipulation scandals that led to banks being fined billions of dollars.
The global financial industry has been slow to embrace the change, with Reuters reporting in October that U.S. investors are unprepared for the transition to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which they do not see as a pressing issue.
Speaking at an event hosted by the U.S. derivatives regulator in Washington, Quarles warned that major new markets such as SOFR “do not arise overnight” and can take decades to develop.
“We have only a little over two and a half years until the point at which Libor could end, and the transition needs to continue to accelerate. The private sector needs to take on this responsibility, and we expect you to do so,” said Quarles, who is also chair of the Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board.
Quarles was joined by regulators from the United Kingdom who are visiting Washington this week as part of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The Fed governor, who also oversees prudential regulation at the central bank, added that the Fed’s supervisory teams are including the transition away from Libor as part of their regular monitoring of large firms.
“The Federal Reserve will expect to see an appropriate level of preparedness at the banks it supervises,” he said.
(Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles addresses the Economic Club of New York in New York City, U.S., October 18, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By Michelle Price
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. financial industry must accelerate efforts to move away from the scandal-plagued Libor reference interest rate, Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles said on Wednesday, adding that the regulator was scrutinizing banks’ transition plans.
The United States and other key markets have until 2021 to replace the dominant Libor money market rate – the reference rate for more than $350 trillion of assets globally – which is being phased out after a series of manipulation scandals that led to banks being fined billions of dollars.
The global financial industry has been slow to embrace the change, with Reuters reporting in October that U.S. investors are unprepared for the transition to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which they do not see as a pressing issue.
Speaking at an event hosted by the U.S. derivatives regulator in Washington, Quarles warned that major new markets such as SOFR “do not arise overnight” and can take decades to develop.
“We have only a little over two and a half years until the point at which Libor could end, and the transition needs to continue to accelerate. The private sector needs to take on this responsibility, and we expect you to do so,” said Quarles, who is also chair of the Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board.
Quarles was joined by regulators from the United Kingdom who are visiting Washington this week as part of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The Fed governor, who also oversees prudential regulation at the central bank, added that the Fed’s supervisory teams are including the transition away from Libor as part of their regular monitoring of large firms.
“The Federal Reserve will expect to see an appropriate level of preparedness at the banks it supervises,” he said.
(Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Source: OANN
Sen. Bernie Sanders defended “Medicare for All” on CBS News, as he unveils an updated version of his universal health care plan on Wednesday.
“It guarantees, like every other major country on Earth, healthcare to every man, woman and child in this country,” Sanders said, adding that it is not a form of socialism but rather “similar to what the Canadians have.”
Once criticized as too radical by many Democrats, four of his opponents in the race for the party’s nomination for president are now co-sponsoring his universal plan in the Senate.
When asked about criticism concerning the price tag for the plan, which some put at $25 to $35 trillion over the next decade, Sanders countered that “What’s expensive and what’s unsustainable is the current health care system. We are spending twice as much per capita as any other nation.”
The Vermont senator said Medicare for All would “get rid of insurance companies and drug companies making billions of dollars in profit every single year,” and that all Americans would be covered by a government-backed program like Medicare.
Sanders acknowledged that under his proposal one would not be able to keep a private or employer-based insurance program that he likes.
The senator explained that “you may be one of the millions of people who leaves your job this year, and you’re going to leave your private insurance. You may be one of the many millions of people who finds that their employer has gone out and got another insurance company to cover you. You’re going to have to change that, but essentially, under Medicare for All, all people will be covered by Medicare.”
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Source: NewsMax Politics
FILE PHOTO – A technician works on a German Tornado jet at the air base in Incirlik, Turkey, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz/Pool
April 10, 2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German Defence Ministry estimates it will cost nearly 9 billion euros to replace obsolescent parts and keep its aging fleet of 93 Tornado fighter jets flying until 2030, according to a classified document provided to German lawmakers this week.
The steep cost estimate includes 5.64 billion euros to maintain the warplanes, which first entered service in 1983, 1.62 billion euros to design replacements for obsolete parts, and 1.58 billion euros to procure them, according to the document, which was viewed by Reuters.
Germany in January decided to pick either the Eurofighter or Boeing Co’s F/A-18E/F fighter jet to replace its Tornado fleet in coming years, dropping Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter from a tender worth billions of euros..
But neither the F/A-18 nor the Eurofighter are currently certified to carry U.S. nuclear weapons, as required under Germany’s obligations to NATO, leaving Germany dependent on its Tornado fleet until it gets new planes.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, editing by Thomas Escritt)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A 2019 Chevrolet Bolt plug-in electric vehicle is displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers will introduce legislation on Wednesday to expand the electric vehicle tax credit by 400,000 vehicles per manufacturer, a provision that would give a boost to General Motors Co and Tesla Inc before the existing credit comes to an end for them.
The bill is sponsored by Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins and Democratic Representative Dan Kildee, the sponsors told Reuters ahead of its official introduction.
The bill could lift electric vehicle sales in a boost for automakers that have committed tens of billions of dollars to meet rising global emissions requirements.
The existing $7,500 EV tax credit, which allows tax payers to deduct part of the cost of buying an electric car, phases out over 15 months once an automaker hits 200,000 cumulative EV sales. GM saw its tax credit cut to $3,750 on April 1. Tesla’s tax credit fell to $3,750 on Jan. 1 and will end entirely at year’s end.
The bill dubbed the “Driving America Forward Act” would grant each automaker a $7,000 tax credit for an additional 400,000 vehicles on top of the existing 200,000 vehicles eligible for $7,500 tax credits. It would shorten the phase-out schedule to nine months.
The bill would also extend the hydrogen fuel cell credit through 2028. The bill is estimated to cost $11.4 billion, with all but $91 million of that tally to extend the EV tax credit.
“We have a cap that’s got to go up,” Stabenow told a group of automakers at a dinner last week. “I want to get this done as soon as possible.”
The proposal has strong backing from automakers, environmental groups and others, but will face opposition.
Last month, the White House proposed immediately eliminating the $7,500 tax credit, a move it said would save the U.S. government $2.5 billion over a decade.
Senator John Barrasso, a Republican who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, in February proposed legislation to end the credit and impose a highway user fee on EVs to pay for road repairs.
The bill is backed by major automakers including GM, Tesla, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, BMW AG, Nissan Motor Co, Volkswagen AG and utilities.
GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement “the EV tax credit provides customers with a proven incentive as we work to establish the U.S. as a leader in electrification.”
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said “as we build and grow the clean energy economy, we must continue to invest in tackling the sector that generates the most pollution: transportation.”
Both GM and Tesla have been lobbying Congress for more than a year to extend or expand the EV tax credit.
GM’s credit drops to $1,875 in October and will completely disappear by April 2020, while Tesla’s credit falls to $1,875 in July and expires at the end of the year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man helps kids cast his ballot at a polling station as Israelis vote in a parliamentary election, in Jerusalem April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By Steven Scheer and Ari Rabinovitch
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties did well in Israel’s national election and will likely bring hefty demands for more government payouts to coalition talks, making it harder for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in a growing budget deficit.
Two religious parties, often political kingmakers in the past, were projected to win a combined 16 of 120 seats in parliament, three more than they have now. Their support is essential for Netanyahu should he opt to form a right-wing coalition, rather than seek a broader unity government with centrist rivals.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim, make up about 10 percent of Israel’s population and, with their typically large families, that percentage is expected to swell.
They receive state benefits, stipends and military exemptions that allow many to devote time to religious studies rather than joining the workforce.
Just around half of Haredi men are employed, an issue long identified by economists as a drag on Israeli growth. At the same time, more than 70 percent of Haredi women work but their salaries are well below the average of non-Haredi women.
The two parties, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, pledge to try to keep or even build on the status quo, disregarding warnings from Israel’s central bank and groups like the International Monetary Fund of a future crisis without change.
“Having stronger power would mean that they would have stronger leverage for obtaining higher stipends for (seminary) students,” said Eitan Regev, an economist at the Israel Democracy Institute.
CUTS PUT MORE HAREDI IN WORK
He noted that when stipends were cut in a short-lived government without Haredi parties after the 2013 election, more men joined the workforce. Allowances were raised again two years later in a new government, halting the rise in numbers of employed Haredi, Regev said.
UTJ co-head Moshe Gafni said Netanyahu had called him since polls closed late on Tuesday to discuss a partnership.
Israel’s budget deficit is rising, forecast to reach nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product this year – well above the 2.9 percent target. Although ratings agencies Fitch and S&P said Israel was not at risk of a downgrade in the near term, austerity measures seem unavoidable.
The Bank of Israel has called for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to keep the budget from spiraling out of control. After the new government is in place, discussions on the 2020 and possibly a dual 2020-2021 budget will begin.
“It will be very difficult to consolidate the budget,” said Leader Capital Markets chief economist Jonathan Katz, noting much depended on how much pressure Netanyahu will be able to withstand. “The big question is, ‘Will it be a macro story of billions of shekels, or hundreds of millions?’”
In the longer term, the parties could delay the integration of a chunk of the population into the workforce, something the Bank of Israel has singled out as a top economic priority.
A recent study by the central bank found that economic growth would slow if the issue is not addressed.
“Comprehensive and persistent policy in these areas will contribute to increasing the standard of living for all population segments and to reducing inequality in the economy,” it said in its 2018 review.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis leaves after the weekly general audience at the Vatican, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican is working on a papal document that would establish procedures for Catholics to report bishops suspected of sexual abuse or negligence in sexual abuse cases, according to two Vatican sources.
The document, still in its early stages, would be the second official pronouncement by Pope Francis on the global sexual abuse crisis since he presided at a summit of senior bishops at the Vatican in February.
The first after the summit was last month when Francis made it compulsory in law to report the sexual abuse of children within the Vatican and in its diplomatic missions worldwide [uL8N21G3DO].
Victims of sexual abuse and their advocates have long called for measures to make bishops more accountable and to make it easier to report the alleged role of some in cover-ups, negligence or mismanagement.
In its current form, the document is a Motu Proprio, or a personal papal edict. Its working title is “Moral Responsibility”, one of the sources said.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the matter.
The Church’s credibility has been badly tarnished by abuse scandals in Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, the United States, Poland, Germany and elsewhere, in which it has paid billions of dollars in damages to victims and been forced to close parishes.
In 2016, Francis issued an edict establishing that bishops could be removed from office for negligence or omission that led even indirectly to sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
While many national Churches have procedures for the faithful to report sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults by a priest, there are no clear procedures to report suspicion of abuse or negligence by a bishop.
Victims held the late cardinal Bernard Law responsible for allowing abuse by priests when he was archbishop of Boston between 1984 to 2002. The abuse and cover up was exposed by the Boston Globe and dramatized in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight.
After he resigned, Law moved to Rome and was never prosecuted either by the Vatican or American civil justice. He died in Rome in 2017.
The current draft of the document includes elements of suggestions made by bishops in the United States on setting up an accessible and user friendly reporting mechanism.
In a speech at the February summit at the Vatican, Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, called for the establishment of “independent reporting mechanisms” where accusations of suspected abuse or negligence by a bishop could be reported.
Cupich said the accusations would be forwarded directly to the Vatican’s ambassador in the county, to a senior bishop in the prelate’s region, and to a board of experts that includes non-clerics.
A preliminary investigation would follow, “if the allegation has even the semblance of truth,” Cupich said in February.
Cupich suggested setting up a dedicated hot line or web portal to receive complaints about bishops but the current draft of the Vatican document does not specify this, according to a person familiar with it.
The draft calls for the creation of a fund to cover the costs of reporting procedures and investigations. If the diocese is in a poor country, the costs could be picked up by one of the Vatican departments that can investigate bishops, the current draft says, according to one of the sources said.
The draft speaks of the inclusion of lay people in overseeing the reporting process. Victims of sexual abuse and their advocates have demanded that non-clerics be involved, saying bishops could not police themselves.
The sources said the type, content and title of the document could change as it develops.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Source: OANN
Pharmacist Jim Pearce fills a Suboxone prescription at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program in Boston, Massachusetts January 14, 2013. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
April 10, 2019
(Reuters) – Shares of Indivior Plc sank 44 percent on Wednesday after the U.S. Justice Department accused the British drugmaker of illegally boosting prescriptions for the film version of its blockbuster opioid addiction treatment Suboxone.
An indictment filed in federal court in Abingdon, Virginia, alleged Indivior made billions of dollars by deceiving doctors and healthcare benefit programs into believing the film version of Suboxone was safer and less susceptible to abuse than similar drugs.
Shares in the company, already facing a slump in Suboxone sales due to the arrival of generic competition after a long legal fight, traded as low as 57.7 pence in early trading in London, their lowest since listing in 2014.
The U.S. market, buoyed by attempts to combat an opioid epidemic that President Donald Trump has declared a public health emergency, accounts for 80 percent of Indivior’s revenue.
The indictment charged Indivior and its subsidiary Indivior Inc with conspiracy, health care fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud. If Indivior is convicted, the government will seek to have it forfeit at least $3 billion, the indictment said.
(Reporting by Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (C) applauses as he is observes the fly-past by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) JF-17 Thunder fighter jet during the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad, Pakistan March 23, 2019. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
April 10, 2019
By James Mackenzie and Martin Howell
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s push to curb armed militant groups in the wake of a standoff with India that brought the nuclear-armed neighbors close to war reflected an urgent need for stability to meet growing economic challenges, Prime Minister Imran Khan said.
Facing a financial crisis and heavy pressure to take on militant groups to avoid sanctions from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terror finance watchdog, Khan said Pakistan was acting in its own interests.
“Everyone now knows that what is happening in Pakistan has never happened (before),” Khan told a group of foreign journalists at his office in Islamabad on Tuesday, outlining a push to bring the more than 30,000 madrasas across Pakistan under government control and rehabilitate thousands of former militants.
“We have decided, this country has decided, for the future of the country – forget outside pressure – we will not allow armed militias to operate,” he said.
The comments underline a push by Pakistan to improve its image after years of accusations that its security services have exploited militant groups as proxies against neighbors, including India and Afghanistan.
Islamabad has consistently denied the accusations and said Pakistan has suffered more from militant violence than any other country, with tens of thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in economic damage over recent decades.
But Khan, a former cricket star, implicitly accepted the role played by Pakistan in fostering and steering militant groups that grew out of the U.S.-backed mujahideen fighting Soviet forces in neighboring Afghanistan in the 1980s.
“We should never have allowed them to exist once jihad was over,” he said, rejecting suggestions that he could face opposition from the powerful military and the ISI, Pakistan’s main intelligence agency.
“Today, we have the total support of the Pakistan army and intelligence services in dismantling them,” Khan said. “What use has ISI of them any more? These groups were created for the Afghan jihad.”
BROKEN PROMISES
Pakistan’s critics, including India, have dismissed Khan’s promises of a crackdown, saying similar pledges have been repeatedly made by previous governments only to be quietly dropped once attention shifted.
They point to Pakistan’s continued failure to arrest Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the group which claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 attack in Pulwama district of Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary police.
Khan said Pakistan was constrained by the need to build a legal case that would stand up in court but said Azhar had been driven underground and was “ineffective” and unwell.
“More important than him is the set-up and that is being dismantled,” he said.
Although Khan insisted that the actions against militant groups were being undertaken for Pakistan’s own benefits, his government, which came to power last August, faces severe economic headwinds that have made international support vital.
In discussions with the International Monetary Fund over what would be its 13th bailout since the 1980s, Pakistan is struggling to stay off the FATF blacklist, which would bring heavy economic penalties.
“We can’t afford to be blacklisted, that would mean sanctions,” Khan said.
With a currency that has lost more than a quarter of its value over the past year, a yawning current account deficit and galloping inflation running at over nine percent, Pakistan is in desperate need of a respite to get its economy on track.
Elected on a platform of tackling the endemic corruption that has helped cripple Pakistan’s economy, Khan said his top priority was to take 100 million people, or around half the population, out of poverty.
“You can only do this if there is stability in Pakistan.”
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Nick Macfie and Michael Perry)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump introduces the U.S. candidate in election for the next President of the World Bank David Malpass at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday he would not alter the lender’s commitment to fight climate change, but pledged to step up its anti-poverty mission and to evolve the bank’s relationship with China.
Malpass, who started at the Bank on Tuesday, was nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Some development professionals feared that he would pursue Trump’s “America First” agenda at the bank by resuming financing for coal power projects and pressuring China.
But Malpass told reporters that he will pursue the World Bank’s climate change goals, including its previous decision to withdraw from coal power funding. He called climate change a “key problem” facing many of the world’s developing countries.
“The board and the governors have established a policy on that. I don’t expect a change in that policy,” Malpass said,
A long-time finance executive, economist and government development official, Malpass most recently served as the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs. He helped negotiate a $13 billion capital increase for the World Bank last year.
That refunding included requirements that the bank shift lending away from middle-income countries including China toward lower-income countries.
Malpass at the time was highly critical of China’s continued borrowing from the World Bank and of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. But he said on Tuesday that new lending to Chinese projects was already declining and the relationship would shift toward one of increased contributions to the bank and sharing of expertise.
“That means an evolution where they are much less of a borrower, and they have more to offer in terms of their participation in capital increases, their participation in IDA, where China has been ramping up its contributions,” he said, referring to the International Development Association, the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries.
He said he would work with China to boost the standards of its development projects with more debt transparency and open procurement standards.
His view on China contrasted those of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who told lawmakers that Malpass’ presence at the World Bank would help the United States compete with China’s Belt and Road initiative. That program entails hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure development and investment by China in about 65 countries with an emphasis on transportation routes.
Asked at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday what the United States could do to “push back” on China’s growing presence in international development, Mnuchin replied, “I think the single best thing is that David Malpass, who was my undersecretary, is now head of the World Bank.”
The World Bank, combined with a new U.S. development agency created by Congress last year, “can be a serious competitor to their Belt and Road,” Mnuchin added.
The United States remains the World Bank’s largest shareholder, and the Treasury oversees the U.S. interests at the institution.
Malpass said he saw no need for a restructuring of the World Bank’s operations, but he would seek to make lending more effective at lifting people out of poverty.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Source: OANN
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