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A man cuts an election campaign poster to make a tote bag out of it, in his home in Bangkok, Thailand April 8, 2019. Picture taken April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
April 12, 2019
By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Jiraporn Kuhakan
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai designer Panupong Chansopa saw a business opportunity in millions of vinyl campaign posters destined to become trash after last month’s general election, and salvaged hundreds to turn them into colorful tote bags with a message.
Most of his designs feature the cropped faces of popular politicians, or eye-catching campaign slogans cut from the posters and sewn together by a seamstress.
“This is about a political awakening, not just an environmental effort,” Panupong, 28, said of the pent-up desire for political expression after five years of military rule.
“The junta took power and silenced people, but now people want to speak out and express themselves.”
It is still uncertain which party could form a government after the March 24 election, the first since a 2014 army coup. Final results may not be clear for weeks.
Panupong collected about 400 posters in Bangkok, mostly those of the youth-oriented Future Forward Party, whose leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit figures is among his most popular designs.
In a friend’s house that serves as a makeshift factory, Panupong unrolls a weather-worn poster on the floor, washes it with a sponge and soapy water and then hangs it up to dry.
The final product is a rectangular, vertical tote bag in bold colors, with handles so it can be held in the hand or slung over the shoulder. Made from vinyl, the bag is also water-resistant and durable.
The bags sell for 750 baht ($23.60) each and are available only while stocks last, Panupong said.
He hoped that his brand “Faithai”, inspired by a Swiss brand that makes bags from used truck tarps, can spur political debate without the deep divisions of the recent past.
“In the past…politics and political parties were seen as irrelevant, if not dangerous and risky to engage with,” he said.
“But now I want politics to be something everyone can relate to. No need to run from it, no need to fear talking about it.”
(Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Jiraporn Kuhakan; writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian comic actor and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy flashes a victory sign following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine March 31, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
April 12, 2019
By Matthias Williams and Margaryta Chornokondratenko
KIEV (Reuters) – In a popular TV series, a fictional Ukrainian president gets so drunk at a dinner with the head of the International Monetary Fund that he throws her into a swimming pool.
He then forces bystanders to drink water from the pool, thinking in his drunken stupor that it is champagne.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the 41-year-old comedian who played the president, is now frontrunner to become Ukraine’s real head of state and his campaign team is trying to assure investors he would be able to keep the country’s IMF program on track.
Petro Poroshenko, who has led Ukraine for the past five years and faces Zelenskiy in an election run-off on April 21, paints his rival as a lightweight.
With no prior political experience, Zelenskiy is an unknown quantity to investors and the stakes are high. Ukraine’s economy, dragged down by a separatist conflict in the east, is dependent on IMF assistance worth billions of dollars.
Zelenskiy’s team has brought in two former ministers as advisers and has been meeting business leaders, diplomats and IMF officials as he tries to win investors’ confidence.
One of the advisers, former economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius, told Reuters that Zelenskiy would preserve the central bank’s independence and keep its governor, Yakiv Smoliy, in place if he won the run-off.
He would also lobby a reluctant parliament to lift a moratorium on the sale of farmland and change how businesses are taxed, Abromavicius said. [nL8N21T24Q]
Asked whether Zelenskiy still had a credibility gap to overcome with investors, Abromavicius said: “It’s all work in progress.”
“Of course, he’s new to politics. He doesn’t answer all the questions the way every voter wants to hear but with every day we hear more and more concrete statements,” he said.
Abromavicius, who fell out with Poroshenko in 2016, said Zelenskiy was committed to keeping cooperation with the IMF on track because the “IMF is an anchor of reforms in this country. The IMF means macroeconomic stability.”
Zelenskiy has met IMF officials and the two sides agreed neither wants Ukraine to be in an IMF program as such, Abromavicius said, but its departure depended on Ukraine being successful, implementing reforms, paying back debts and tapping into open markets rather than seeking IMF assistance.
“And that of course will take some more time,” he said.
The Zelenskiy policies outlined by Abromavicius include accenting cooperation with the IMF towards fighting corruption and reform of law enforcement bodies, including stripping them of their powers to investigate economic crimes.
“RIGHT THINGS, RIGHT PEOPLE”
Zelenskiy came top in the first round of the election on March 31, running an unorthodox campaign that relied heavily on social media and comedy shows.
Meeting smartly dressed businessmen and women from the American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) last month, Zelenskiy drew comment on social media by showing up in a gray t-shirt.
“With Poroshenko, the business community, we pretty much feel we know what’s going to happen, we expect a business-as-usual approach,” said ACC President Andy Hunder. “We know much less about candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy.”
Zelenskiy and his advisers conveyed the message that investors can do business with them though he was sometimes short on detail, Hunder said.
“We’ve looked at Zelenskiy’s program, we’ve asked him specific questions when we met him,” Hunder said.
The answers were quite vague, he said, “but the message has been delivered clearly that the IMF program will continue — unlike what he did to the IMF in the TV show.”
Investors who spoke to Reuters said they had been reassured that Abromavicius and former Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk were advising Zelenskiy but they have questions about the comedian’s relationship with the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.
Some have asked whether a Zelenskiy presidency might help Kolomoisky win compensation for or regain ownership of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender.
The government wrested PrivatBank from Kolomoisky’s control in 2016, saying billions of dollars were funneled out while he owned it. Kolomoisky denies any wrongdoing.
Zelenskiy denies he would return PrivatBank to Kolomoisky. The two men say their relationship is strictly professional, based on Zelenskiy airing his shows on Kolomoisky’s television channel 1+1.
Damien Buchet, Chief Investment Officer of the EM Total Return Strategy, Finisterre Capital, said Zelenskiy seems to say the “right things” and seems to be surrounded by the “right people” on the economy.
“Whether they have the upper hand on shaping potential policy with him remains to be seen. We have the Kolomoisky connection, which still worries people,” he said.
Ukraine has pulled itself out of a steep recession in 2014-2015 but reforms were left unfinished in Poroshenko’s first term, leading to repeated delays in IMF money disbursements, and foreign direct investment remained tepid.
Before he embarked on a political career, Zelenskiy’s troupe organized a social media campaign against the government’s decision to raise household gas prices in October, encouraging citizens to post pictures of their bills online.
Asked if Zelenskiy would allow gas prices to rise to market levels, an IMF demand, Abromavicius said the decision ultimately lay with the government and not the president. He said warmer weather this spring had lowered international gas prices and might lessen the need for Ukraine to raise them.
On the night of the swimming pool incident in the TV series, Zelenskiy’s fictional president had gone on a charm offensive to persuade the IMF to allow him to defer reforms, including raising the pension age and utility prices.
He ended up drunkenly acceding to them.
(Additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London, Eidting by Timothy Heritage)
Source: OANN
Phil Mickelson of the U.S. hits off the fourth tee during first round play of the 2019 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
April 12, 2019
By Amy Tennery
AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – It was deja vu for Phil Mickelson at the Masters on Thursday, after the 48-year-old posting a five-under-par 67, a repeat of his first-round performance at Augusta National in 2010, the last time he picked up a Green Jacket.
Mickelson gave the younger challengers a run for their money, finishing one stroke behind co-leaders and fellow Americans Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
Mickelson, however, said he set less lofty goals for the first round of his latest Masters bid, saying after the round that he was “just hoping to shoot in the 60s.”
The five-times major winner made back-to-back bogeys at the start of the back nine, a stumble that perhaps could have rattled a less experienced player.
“After going in the water at 11 to hit that close and have an easy bogey and then to make a six‑footer for bogey on 10 after a terrible drive, those were almost momentum maintainers, if you will, that kept me in it,” Mickelson said.
He went on to make five birdies in the last seven holes, completing seven on the day.
Mickelson, who last won a major at the Open in 2013, would be the oldest Masters champion in history if he wins this year.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians are reflected on an electronic board showing stock prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan December 27, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
April 12, 2019
By Andrew Galbraith
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Asian shares were flat and U.S. Treasury yields pulled back on Friday as investor caution prevailed ahead of the release of first-quarter corporate earnings, although stronger U.S. economic data helped offset some concerns about global growth.
Early in the trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely higher, up 0.03 percent.
Higher Chinese iron ore prices helped Australian shares outpace regional markets, pushing Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.7 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index gained 0.1 percent.
The weak gains in Asian markets followed a choppy session on Wall Street that left major indexes treading water, hemmed in by anxiety ahead of corporate earnings and worries about a global economic slowdown, which capped gains from upbeat U.S. economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.05 percent to 26,143.05, the S&P 500 closed flat at 2,888.32 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.21 percent to 7,947.36.
Tempering expectations for a sharp slowdown in U.S. growth as data that showed the number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a 49-1/2-year low last week
Comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida that the U.S. economy is in a “good place” but reemphasizing the Fed’s patience on rate hikes, also helped to reassure investors.
“One of the big take away from the past few days has been the broad decline in volatility across markets,” National Australia Bank (NAB) analysts said in a morning note. NAB attributed the muted reaction to recent events to dovish policy shifts by central banks, signs that China’s stimulus measures are having an effect, continued U.S.-China trade talks and the Brexit delay.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday that the six-month delay of Britain’s exit from the European Union avoids the “terrible outcome” of a “no-deal” Brexit, but does nothing to lift uncertainty over the final outcome.
Underscoring ongoing threats to the health of the global economy, IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa warned that a bigger-than-expected slowdown in China’s economy remains a key risk to global growth.
U.S. Treasury yields inched lower amid the cautious retreat in shares, after earlier rising on the U.S. jobless claims data, stronger producer prices and a weak 30-year bond auction.
On Friday morning, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes fell to 2.4952 percent compared with its U.S. close of 2.504 percent on Thursday, while the two-year yield, touched 2.354 percent compared with a U.S. close of 2.356 percent.
In currency markets, the dollar was up less than 0.1 percent against the yen at 111.73, while the euro gained 0.27 percent on the day to buy $1.1280.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.1 percent at 97.047.
U.S. crude ticked up 0.27 percent at $63.75 a barrel, while Brent crude was up 0.2 percent at $70.97 per barrel.
Gold was slightly higher, having fallen more than 1 percent on Thursday to break below the key $1,300 level following solid U.S. data. Spot gold was trading at $1,293.30 per ounce. [GOL/]
(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Tourists stand at a promenade across the water from the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort in Singapore, in this file picture taken June 22, 2010. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash/File Photo
April 12, 2019
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s economy grew more than expected in the first quarter from the quarter before on an annualized basis, preliminary data showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.0 percent in the January-March period from the previous three months on an annualized and seasonally adjusted basis, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.
It was forecast to have expanded 1.2 percent on a quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted and annualized basis, a Reuters poll showed.
From the year ago, GDP grew 1.3 percent in the first quarter, below the 1.5 percent expansion forecast in the poll.
(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Source: OANN
A flock of ostriches is seen at a farm on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Fernando Medina
April 11, 2019
By Sarah Marsh
HAVANA (Reuters) – From breeding miniature cows to importing water buffalo, Cuban leaders have long gotten creative in their effort to remedy food shortages. Now, they are proposing ostrich and rodent farms as an answer, prompting ridicule from a weary population.
Meat and eggs have become hard to find in the Communist-run country in recent months due to a declining economy. Meanwhile officials are touting the potential of the flightless African bird and the hutia, a rodent native to Cuba that can weigh up to 8.5 kg (19 pounds).
“An ostrich lays 60 eggs, and of those you get around 40 chicks, and from these 40 chicks per year you get four tonnes of meat – whereas a cow just gives birth to one calf and after a year it’s only a yearling,” said Guillermo Garcia Frias.
Garcia Frias, 91, holds the honorary title of commander of the revolution as a former guerrilla in Cuba’s 1959 revolution and heads state company Flora and Fauna that is developing seven ostrich farms. He spoke at a roundtable discussion broadcast on state TV last week.
He lavished praise on hutias for their “level of protein higher than any other meat” and “high quality pelt,” noting his company was also breeding crocodiles.
His comments have prompted sarcastic memes and jokes that have gone viral on social media since Cuba’s food schemes have often failed to fulfill expectations.
In one meme, a Cuban arrives home with a live ostrich he got via the state ration card. In another a flock of the birds from Cuba arrives at the Mexican-U.S. border seeking asylum.
Cubans also joked the state might give them an ostrich per household, as it did with chickens during the deep economic depression of the 1990s following the fall of former benefactor the Soviet Union.
“They should be focusing on chicken, a basic foodstuff that has disappeared, rather than something so unusual,” said Elizabeth Perez, 22, a law student who said she hadn’t been able to find chicken in the supermarket for a month.
Ostriches are already farmed around the world, particularly in South Africa. In the United States, the bird is often served more as a novelty than a staple. The red meat is said to resemble lean beef, with a gamey flavor.
For some, Garcia Frias’ comments recalled late leader Fidel Castro’s genetic engineering project to produce high-yield dairy cows.
His cow Ubre Blanca or White Udder is in the Guinness Book of Records for the highest milk yield by a cow in one day: 110 liters (29 gallons). Her offspring were not as productive so the experiment petered out.
Cuba imports 60 to 70 percent of its food because of inefficient central planning of the state-run economy and the effect of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo.
But the country has also had to cut back on imports over the past three years due to cash shortfalls resulting from problems with its deals with former and current leftist allies, in particular declining aid from crisis-stricken Venezuela.
Whenever chicken arrives at supermarkets in Havana these days, long queues quickly form and do not peter out until the stock is exhausted.
Communist Party leader Raul Castro on Wednesday warned the economic situation could worsen in coming months as the United States further tightens its sanctions on the island although it would not become as dire as in the 1990s.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Source: OANN
U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is pictured EPA headquarters in Washington, DC, U.S. April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Timothy Gardner
April 11, 2019
By Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici
(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will unveil a proposal to speed state-level permitting decisions for energy infrastructure projects soon, the agency’s chief told Reuters on Thursday, blasting states that have blocked coal terminals and gas pipelines on environmental grounds.
President Donald Trump is seeking to boost domestic fossil fuels production over the objections of Democrats and environmentalists concerned about pollution and climate change. On Wednesday he issued a pair of executive orders targeting the power of states to delay energy projects.
“We started working on it in advance, so we hope to have something out soon,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in an interview. He was unable to provide a precise timeline.
Based on Trump’s orders, Wheeler’s EPA has been tasked with clarifying a section of the U.S. Clean Water Act that has allowed states like New York and Washington to delay projects in recent years.
New York has used the section to delay pipelines that would bring natural gas to New England, for example, and Washington state has stopped coal export terminals that would open the Asian market for struggling coal companies in Wyoming and other landlocked western states.
“They are trying to make international environmental policy,” Wheeler said of Washington state, whose governor, Democrat Jay Inslee, is running for president on a climate change-focused platform. “They’re trying to dictate to the world how much coal is used.”
Wheeler said New York, which amid strong public pressure denied a clean water act permit for construction of a natural gas pipeline to New England, is forcing that region “to use Russian-produced natural gas.”
“We are importing Russian natural gas which is not produced in an environmentally conscious manner. If the states that are blocking the pipelines were truly concerned about the environment, they would look to where the natural gas would be coming from… I think it’s very short-sighted,” he said.
Wheeler said the EPA would not prevent a state from vetoing a project, but would clarify the parameters they should be able to consider, and the length of time they have to do so.
He also said that California is playing politics in its fight with the EPA to preserve its more stringent vehicle emission standards as the national standard.
CLIMATE: NOT A PRIORITY
Wheeler said he believes climate change is a problem, but that it had been overblown by former President Barack Obama’s administration – at the expense of other bigger issues like water quality.
“Yes, climate is an issue and we are working to address it, but I think water is a bigger issue,” he said.
Wheeler dismissed the findings of a report released earlier this week by EPA scientists in the journal Nature Climate Change that detailed the scale and urgency of climate change.
He said while he encouraged EPA scientists to carry out and publish research, he stressed the recent paper “did not reflect EPA policy.”
Environmental groups say the EPA’s replacement of an Obama-era rule limiting carbon emissions from power plants would likely lead to increased emissions by allowing older, more polluting coal plants to operate longer.
Asked whether the replacement – the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which gives states responsibility for regulating emissions – is stringent enough, Wheeler said it adheres to the parameters of federal law.
“I think what is effective regulation is one that follows the law and one that will be held up in court,” he said.
Several Democrats challenging Trump in the 2020 election have made climate change a top-tier issue, embracing aggressive policy platforms like the Green New Deal calling for an end of fossil fuels use.
Asked whether he was concerned that the EPA may be out of synch with polls showing an overwhelming number of young people believe climate change should be a priority issue, Wheeler was dismissive.
“I do fear that because so many people only talked about climate change. You’re right, there could very well be a new generation coming up saying that’s the only environmental issue – and it’s not,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and David Shepardson; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Source: OANN
Recently released numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce show that new home sales were up 4.9% this past February, in the midst of a thriving real estate market — and it’s a good time for new property owners. That’s because today’s recent construction is more likely to be fully equipped with smart home technology and that can bring real savings. From smart thermostats to leak detection technology, home ownership is more sustainable and affordable than ever before.
Built-in smart home technology is not only a money saver, but it’s also a purchase incentive. According to research, 81% of homeowners would be more inclined to buy a house with these devices already installed. This is a sign of growing acceptance among American homeowners as such devices become more familiar, as well as being associated with the increase in millennials purchasing their first homes.
Affordable Upgrades
It’s important to be clear: not all smart technology saves homeowners money. Home security, for example, may occasionally earn homeowners insurance credits, but in most cases, it’s a cumulative cost with few financial advantages, while voice-controlled speakers may actually lead to reckless spending. Smart LED lighting and thermostats, on the other hand, are affordable options with sizeable savings potential and wide appeal.
Just how much savings do these basic upgrades promise? According to the property management experts at Green Residential, who manage a variety of homes and apartments across the Houston, Texas area, a basic smart thermostat saves homeowners between $131 and $145 per year. LED lights, on the other hand, save owners more as the number in use grows. Each will save owners $13 a year on average, but the average homeowner has at least five lights that can be converted to LED, and likely many more.
Sensing Serious Risks
While LED lights and smart thermostats are affordable options, even for those seeking to upgrade older homes, new construction offers more advanced and complicated options not ordinarily available. Just recently, Semtech announced new radio frequency technology that monitors changes in humidity and temperature to identify invisible water leaks.
In the past, such leaks could cause serious structural damage before they became visible to the naked eye, as well as fostering mold growth. By identifying leaks before they progress, however, this new technology can save homeowners the cost of major repairs and renovations.
Additional Savings
Smart home technology provides savings through cumulative changes, much as any sustainability efforts do, but having that technology pre-installed is where homeowners achieve the biggest savings.
According to HomeAdvisor, it costs an average of $189 to install a new smart home appliance, which means it will take over a year to recoup the costs of the average device. Depending on how disruptive that installation process is, this can be a deterrent to homeowners.
When smart home devices are preinstalled in new construction, the homes typically don’t cost more — the new technology simply displaces old technology – but the savings begin to accrue immediately. Homeowners are saved the disruption, but also the added cost of purchasing and installing these tools.
Time Is Money
Finally, while smart home devices provide clear financial savings, they’re also tools of convenience and, as the saying goes, time is money. By automating an array of tasks, smart appliances save homeowners time, with an average estimate of thirty minutes a day. While that’s not much on any individual day, over the course of a week, that’s three and a half hours of time that can be committed to other activities, along with added peace of mind, and increased sustainability.
In the next few years, the majority of homes on the market, whether new construction or older, renovated homes, will be expected to contain at least basic smart home devices — it will be the only way to compete. That’s good news for buyers, tech companies, and the environment, a rare advance in which benefits accrue to all participants.
Larry Alton is a professional blogger, writer, and researcher. A graduate of Iowa State University, he’s now a full-time freelance writer and business consultant.Currently, Larry writes for Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com, and Forbes.com, among others. In addition to journalism, technical writing and in-depth research, he’s also active in his community and spends weekends volunteering with a local non-profit literacy organization and rock climbing. Follow him on Twitter (@LarryAlton3), at LinkedIn.com/in/larryalton, and on his website, LarryAlton.com. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
Source: NewsMax America
President Donald Trump’s executive order to expedite oil and natural gas pipelines could spark another legal battle against Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration.
Trump pulled no punches against New York when he signed executive orders to expedite pipeline projects Wednesday afternoon. The move sparked a sharp rebuke from Cuomo, who threatened to fight “tooth and nail” against permitting reforms.
“We need help with New York,” Trump said Wednesday at an International Union of Operating Engineers’ training center near Houston.
“New York is hurting the country because they’re not allowing us to get those pipelines through, and that’s why they’re paying so much for their heating and all of the things that energy and our energy produces,” Trump said. “So hopefully they can come on board and get in line with what’s happening.”
The orders are aimed at expediting oil and gas pipeline approvals, including asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update guidance regarding state permitting authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
Globalists and the left are united in their anti-American stance on energy.
The goal here is to keep some states, like New York and Washington, from using CWA permitting to kill major energy projects. Trump specifically called out New York’s blocking of the Constitution natural gas pipeline.
“And also, in New York, they’re paying tremendous amounts of money more for energy to heat their homes because New York State blocked a permit to build the Constitution Pipeline,” Trump said.
New York and the Constitution pipeline’s developers have been locked in a legal battle for the last three years after the state denied the project a CWA permit. The pipeline will bring natural gas from producers in Pennsylvania to upstate New York, and is supported by labor unions.
Cuomo’s administration denied permits for Constitution and other pipelines on environmental grounds, and instead is using his own version of the Green New Deal to get 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040.
Cuomo said he would fight Trump’s permitting reforms “tooth and nail.”
“President Trump’s Executive Order is a gross overreach of federal authority that undermines New York’s ability to protect our water quality and our environment,” Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. “Any efforts to curb this right to protect our residents will be fought tooth and nail.”
President Trump’s Executive Order is a gross overreach of federal authority that undermines New York’s ability to protect our water quality and our environment. Any efforts to curb this right to protect our residents will be fought tooth and nail. pic.twitter.com/oP1qIqc8Sa
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 10, 2019
Trump is looking to set stricter timelines and narrow the scope of review states can use evaluate pipelines and other projects that need CWA permits. For example, New York rejected the Constitution pipeline 360 days into its review.
New York rejected a CWA permit Valley Lateral pipeline in 2017 over the impacts it could have on climate change, which, of course, has nothing to do with water quality. Trump’s order could prevent states from using such an expansive standard for review.
In the meantime, however, Cuomo’s pipeline rejections have strained gas supplies in the northeastern U.S., including New York and New England. Supplies are so constrained in New York, for example, that a moratorium on new gas hook-ups hit Westchester County in March, worrying local officials that new development would collapse.
“This obstruction does not just hurt families and workers like you; it undermines our independence and national security,” Trump said, mentioning how New England paid much more for gas this winter because of its lack of pipelines.
Del Bigtree has been exposing the pharmaceutical industry for years and now, with the passage of SB-276, the battle has reached the next level.
Source: InfoWars
Women stand in the back of a truck in Hasaka, Syria, April 1, 2019. Picture taken April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
April 11, 2019
By John Davison
AL-HOL CAMP, Syria (Reuters) – Even when U.S. coalition air strikes and artillery paused for people to evacuate during lulls in fighting, the killing did not stop in Islamic State’s final enclave.
Snipers in areas controlled by Syria’s government near the village of Baghouz picked off women and children fetching water from the river or climbing the small hill to seek medical help in Kurdish-controlled territory, survivors said.
People died from their wounds and children starved.
“There were lines of bodies, men, women and children. I didn’t count them,” said Katrin Aleksandr, a Ukrainian woman who left Baghouz in eastern Syria in the last days of the fighting.
She lay in a hospital bed with her head stitched up, two black eyes and shrapnel wounds to her limbs. Her husband, a militant, was killed in the air strike that wounded her.
“Everything was on fire, including tents people lived in,” she said.
Those who lived through the final days of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate said many people had stayed or were trapped in trenches, tunnels and tents in Baghouz.
Aleksandr and several other people interviewed by Reuters in camps and hospitals, including supporters and critics of Islamic State, gave separate but similar accounts.
They say bombardment by U.S.-backed forces and sniper fire from Syrian government areas killed scores, if not hundreds, as fighters and families scrabbled over food.
U.S.-backed forces declared last month the full territorial defeat of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Asked about events in Baghouz, the U.S.-led coalition said it uses “stringent methods to … allow halts to strikes if any civilians would be put in danger,” and investigates all reports of civilian casualties.
The Syrian government and Shi’ite Muslim militias deny targeting civilians in fighting.
Islamic State deployed car bombs and suicide belts during weeks of fighting for Baghouz. The Sunni Islamist group left a trail of destruction, killed thousands of people in the name of its narrow interpretation of Islam and helped cause many more deaths by trapping civilians in battles to drive it out.
But its adversaries have often used intense bombardment to end those battles in which civilians were killed, fuelling a humanitarian crisis and resentment among those who once lived in the areas it controlled.
In Mosul, the group’s Iraqi stronghold from 2014 to 2017, aerial and ground bombardment destroyed its center and killed thousands of civilians, according to rights groups.
Raqqa in northern Syria, where IS planned attacks in European capitals, was largely destroyed in 2017 before some militants were allowed to evacuate. Many of them are thought to have ended up in Baghouz.
IS supporters, those who tolerated the group and even some critics say its defeat has come at too high a cost in lives and destruction, creating anger the militants are likely to try to exploit as they wage a growing insurgency.
“There’s no shelter in Baghouz, just trenches and tents. Shells landed every 20 minutes. I left after an explosion killed my husband and two of my children,” said Salma Ibrahim, a 20-year-old Moroccan IS supporter at al-Hol camp where many displaced by violence now live.
“Of people who went to the river to get water, maybe half returned,” she said.
GRAPHIC – How Islamic State lost Syria: https://tmsnrt.rs/2O7l4mN
‘LIMBLESS CHILDREN’
Baghouz, now under the control of the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is separated by the Euphrates river from territory controlled by the Syrian army and its allies including Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim militias, who have been accused of revenge attacks against Sunnis.
With IS no longer holding any of eastern Syria, the Euphrates effectively demarcates rival areas of Kurdish control to its east and Syrian government control to the west.
Reporters have mostly been prevented from reaching Baghouz since the battle entered its final phase and ended in late March.
Some civilians said IS forced them to stay almost until the end.
“Fighters guarded women and children and wouldn’t let us go,” said Amal Susi, a 20-year-old Lebanese woman at al-Hol.
She said militants and families fought over bags of flour and scraps of meat.
“They would point their guns at each other and wrestle over flour. People starved,” she said. “When we finally left, we saw bodies of children missing limbs and heads.”
The U.S.-led coalition said it carried out 193 air and artillery strikes in Syria between March 10 and IS’s declared defeat on March 23, some resulting in secondary explosions. It said the SDF were “committed to enabling multiple opportunities to allow for civilians to escape harm.”
Militants kept civilians next to ammunition depots and hid in a network of tunnels, several people interviewed said.
An SDF fighter who participated in the battle said dozens of comrades were killed by mines planted by IS.
“The smell of burned bodies and explosives mixed when we entered Baghouz,” said the fighter, Chegovara Zerik. “Air strikes helped destroy tunnels. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to advance.”
“Most of the bodies were men and women fighters. Strikes only hit where gunfire was coming from. It was not a normal battle – women and boys also fought,” the fighter said.
Unverified videos posted on social media purported to show IS women fighting. Those interviewed said this might have happened but they did not witness it.
Many women described cowering in trenches.
“The reason most people did not leave is because everyone was scared,” said one British woman at al-Hol, who struggled to speak because of a mouth injury.
That included fear of revenge attacks, she said.
“One German girl, she got caught, then they (the SDF) were, like, “Why did you come?” and shot her in the head.”
The 22-year-old Londoner declined to give her name. Reuters could not verify her account.
The SDF said it was “impossible” any such incidents occurred among its ranks.
(Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Source: OANN
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