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Suspect in killing of 4 hostages during standoff has died

Authorities say a man who killed four people during a hostage situation inside a Mississippi home has died at a hospital.

Mississippi Public Safety Department spokesman Capt. John Poulos said the suspect was shot during the 12-hour standoff at a home in Clinton.

Authorities say the standoff started around 2:30 a.m. Saturday when officers checking on a domestic call at the house were fired on. The suspect went back inside and refused to come out.

Clinton city spokesman Mark Jones says four people were found dead in the home when the standoff ended.

TV footage showed two small children released from the home during the standoff and a barrage of gunfire not long before it was over.

The names of the people killed or the suspect have not been released.

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Sen. Ernst: Not Necessary for Mueller to Testify in Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee doesn't need to hear testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller about his report, because it should instead be focusing on confirming federal judges, Sen. Joni Ernst said Monday.

"We have the report, so we can go on from there," the Iowa Republican, a member of the committee told CNN. "Really, the House seems all over this. I know that we will continue to work on judges as a primary concern in [the Senate] Judiciary."

Ernst also added, when asked if she felt alarmed after seeing Trump's behavior as described in the Mueller report, that "we all know who the president is. He has a brash demeanor, that's about all I can say."

Her comments come as House Democrats call for Mueller to testify. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is scheduled to hold a conference call Monday with House Democrats to discuss a strategy following last week's report release.

Last week, even before Mueller's report was released, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y asked the special counsel to appear before his committee by May 23, posting on his Twitter account a copy of a letter he sent to Mueller.

Sunday, Nadler told NBC News that he hasn't ruled out impeachment but said Congress will "have to hear from" Mueller and Attorney General William Barr first.

"Some of this would be impeachable," Nadler said about allegations in Mueller's report. "Obstruction of justice, if proven, would be impeachable."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Explainer: Can Democrats get hold of the full Mueller report?

The Muller Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election is pictured in New York
The Mueller Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election is pictured in New York, New York, U.S., April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

April 23, 2019

By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) – Congressional Democrats have taken legal action to obtain the full Russia report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, without redactions, as well as other evidence he uncovered in his 22-month investigation but there are obstacles in their way.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr must decide by May 1 whether to comply with a subpoena from Democrats and hand over the whole Mueller report into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, most of which was released last week.

In his report, Mueller did not establish that the Trump campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russians to influence the election. The report also provided extensive details on Trump’s efforts to thwart Mueller’s investigation but the special counsel stopped short of charging the president with the crime of obstruction of justice.

Below is an explanation of the legal hurdles Democrats must clear in their subpoena effort, important judicial precedents and Barr’s rationale for keeping parts of the report confidential.

WHY DID BARR NOT RELEASE THE WHOLE REPORT?

Barr, who under federal regulations oversaw Mueller’s work, blacked out sections to hide certain details.

One category of redactions was information obtained through grand jury proceedings.

Grand juries are groups of citizens who decide whether to authorize criminal indictments or demands for evidence sought by prosecutors. Grand jury proceedings are highly secretive to avoid revealing the subjects of the investigation, and also to protect the privacy of anyone examined but not charged with a crime.

Federal laws generally require government lawyers like Barr to keep secret information obtained from grand jury proceedings, with few exceptions.

The other redactions fell into three categories: details that could expose and jeopardize U.S. intelligence gathering methods and sources; information about active law enforcement matters; and potentially damaging information about peripheral players who were not charged.

WHAT HAPPENS IF BARR IGNORES THE SUBPOENA?

A subpoena is a legally enforceable demand for information, meaning Congress has the power to force compliance.

Legal experts said that, if Barr refuses, the first step for the U.S. House of Representatives to force compliance would be a vote to hold him “in contempt.”

Legal experts said that Democrats would then likely file a civil lawsuit and ask a judge to order Barr to comply.

A similar subpoena fight unfolded during the presidency of Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. In 2012, the House, then controlled by Republicans, subpoenaed internal Justice Department documents related to a failed federal law enforcement operation to track illegal gun sales, dubbed “Fast and Furious.”

Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, refused to comply, citing a doctrine called executive privilege. The House voted to hold him in contempt, marking the first time in U.S. history that Congress took such action against a sitting member of a president’s Cabinet.

The court fight dragged on for years. In 2016, a judge rejected Holder’s executive privilege claim. That ruling eventually led to an far-reaching settlement in March 2018, after Obama and Holder left office, that called for the release of files and emails.

Because court fights can last for months or even years, it is likely congressional Democrats and the Justice Department would arrive at some sort of compromise.

Barr proposed allowing a select group of lawmakers to view a less-redacted version of Mueller’s report, but Democrats rejected that approach.

HOW ELSE COULD THE DEMOCRATS OBTAIN THE REPORT?

Congress could ask the judge who oversaw Mueller’s grand jury, Beryl Howell, to release certain transcripts and other information.

U.S. courts have said that judges have inherent authority to release grand jury materials when doing so is in the public interest.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Alistair Bell)

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General Mills lifts profit view on cost cuts, price hikes; shares rise 6 percent

General Mills breakfast cereal is shown for sale in Carlsbad, California,
FILE PHOTO: General Mills breakfast cereal is shown for sale in Carlsbad, California, U.S., June 27, 2017. REUTERS/ Mike Blake

March 20, 2019

(Reuters) – General Mills quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates and the Cheerios cereal maker raised its full-year forecast, benefiting from its efforts to cut costs and raise prices, sending its shares up 6 percent on Wednesday.

Consumer goods companies like General Mills have been raising product prices to make up for rising commodities and transportation costs.

“Our year-to-date performance and fourth-quarter plans give us confidence that we will meet or exceed all of our key fiscal 2019 targets,” Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening said in a statement.

The company’s adjusted gross margin rose 170 basis points to 34.2 percent in the third quarter and beat the analyst average estimate of 32.89 percent.

General Mills, which owns dessert pre-mix brand Betty Crocker and Nature Valley granola bars, said it expects adjusted profit for fiscal 2019 to be between flat and 1 percent from a prior forecast range of flat to down 3 percent.

The company’s net sales rose 8 percent to $4.20 billion in the third quarter, largely in line with expectations of $4.19 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 83 cents per for the quarter ended Feb.24 to beat expectations of 69 cents.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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Rep. Burgess: ‘No One’ Was Listening to Nielsen at Hearings

Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen did well in her job, but members of Congress did not listen to her when she appeared to offer testimony at hearings, so perhaps change will prove positive, Rep. Michael Burgess said Monday.

"It has been very difficult for Sec. Nielsen to come to Congress and talk to Congress," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "She eloquently lays out the things that need to be changed...but unfortunately, when she gets into those congressional hearings, no one is listening to her. They are talking past each other on childhood separations."

Meanwhile, Burgess said he's reintroducing a bill he'd initially introduced in 2014 in hopes of recouping some of the costs of keeping immigrant children in custody.

"Deduct that amount of money from the foreign aid that's going back to the host country or the originating country," said Burgess. "So the calculation (in 2014) was $15,000. I have actually increased that to $30,000 per child because the length of stay has increased and it's costing a lot more to take care of these kids in shelters."

There are 14,000 to 15,000 children in shelters at this point, and taxpayers are footing the bill, said Burgess.

"It makes no sense then to ask the taxpayers to send money back to the home country in foreign aid," said Burgess. "Those countries need to step up. They need to do the job. There are things only they can do on the ground that would mitigate this process and cause it to reverse."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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EU Commission: Romania backsliding on rule of law

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas attends a press conference at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels
European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas attends a press conference at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 20, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

March 29, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission criticized Romania on Friday for backsliding on the rule of law and called on Bucharest to treat fairly Laura Kovesi, a candidate to become the bloc’s first-ever chief prosecutor.

Romania on Thursday indicted Kovesi on corruption charges, prohibiting from traveling abroad, according to Romanian media reports. Romania now holds the rotating EU presidency.

“It is crucial that all candidates put forward by an independent selection panel are treated fairly in the course of this process,” Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular news briefing.

“We call on the Romanian government and on the Romanian authorities to fully respect the principle of sincere cooperation as enshrined in the treaty regarding the selection procedure of the European chief prosecutor,” he said.

“All candidates need to be able to participate in all steps of the selection procedure, unhindered,” he said.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski)

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Kidnapping of Phoenix girl, 11, scuttled by witness with handgun: report

An attempted kidnapping of an 11-year-old Phoenix girl on the way to school was scuttled when a witness intervened, knocked down the suspect and threatened him with a handgun, police said in a Monday report.

The unidentified suspect allegedly grabbed the girl as she walked, took her arm and placed it behind her back and then covered her face with his own arm in an April 3 incident.

Noting the situation, a witness reportedly knocked the man to the ground and told him to leave the girl alone. He then pointed the gun at the suspect and demanded he leave, Sgt. Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix police said, according to Fox 10.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A name and photo of the man in question was not immediately released. He was described as a black man with green eyes and a stud nose ring, sporting a black hooded sweatshirt.

A request for comment from the Phoenix police department was not immediately returned.

Source: Fox News National

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Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London
Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London, Britain, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Gerhard Mey

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rockers The Cranberries are saying goodbye with their final album released on Friday, a poignant tribute to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan who died last year.

“In the End” is the eighth studio album from the band that rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits likes “Zombie” and “Linger”, and includes the final recordings by O’Riordan, who drowned in a London hotel bath in January 2018 due to alcohol intoxication.

Work on the album began during a 2017 tour and by that winter, O’Riordan and guitarist Neil Hogan had penned and demoed 11 tracks.

With O’Riordan’s vocals recorded, Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler completed the album in tribute to her.

“When we realized how strong the songs were, that was the deciding factor really… There was no point… trying to ruin the legacy of the band,” Noel Hogan said in an interview.

“It was obvious that Dolores wanted this album done because when you hear the album, you hear the songs and how strong they are, and she was very, very excited to get in and record this.”

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989 with another singer. O’Riordan replaced him a year later and the group went on to become Ireland’s best-selling rock band after U2, selling more than 40 million records.

O’Riordan, known for her strong distinctive voice singing about relationships or political violence, was 46 when she died.

“She was actually in quite a good place mentally. She was feeling quite content and strong and looking forward to a new phase of her life,” Lawler said.

“A lot of the lyrics in this album are about things ending… people might read into it differently but it was a phase of her personal life that she was talking about.”

The group previously announced their intention to split after the release of “In The End”.

“We are absolutely gutted we can’t play (the songs) live because that’s something that’s been a massive part of this band from day one,” Noel Hogan said.

“A few people have said to us about maybe even doing a one off where you have different vocalists… as kind of guests of ours. A year ago that’s definitely something we weren’t going to entertain but I don’t know, I think it’s something we need to go away and take time off for the summer and have a think about.”

Critics have generally given positive reviews of the album; NME described it as “(seeing) the band’s career go full-circle” while the Irish Times called it “an unexpected late career high and a remarkable swan song for O’Riordan”.

Their early songs still play on the radio. This week, “Dreams” was performed at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in Londonderry last week as she watched Irish nationalist youths attack police following a raid.

“We wrote them as kids, as a hobby and 30 years later they are on radio and on TV, like all the time… That’s far more than any of us ever thought we would have,” Noel Hogan said.

“That would make Dolores really happy because she was very precious about those songs. Her babies, she called them and to have that hopefully long after we’re gone… that’s all any band can wish for.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additoinal reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.

The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.

(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)

(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)

The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.

The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.

“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.

The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.

Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.

In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.

Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

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FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – Deloitte quit as Ferrexpo’s auditor on Friday, knocking its shares by more than 20 percent, days after saying it was unable to conclude whether the iron ore miner’s CEO controlled a charity being investigated over its use of company donations.

Blooming Land, which coordinates Ferrexpo’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, came under scrutiny after auditors found holes in the charity’s statements.

Ferrexpo on Tuesday said findings of an ongoing independent investigation launched in February indicated some Blooming Land funds could have been “misappropriated”. It did not provide any details or publish its findings.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry, were 23.4 percent lower at 206.1 pence at 1022 GMT following news of Deloitte’s resignation.

“Ferrexpo’s shares are deeply discounted vs peers … following the resignation of Deloitte, we expect downside risks to dominate Ferrexpo’s shares near term.” JP Morgan analyst Dominic O’Kane said in a note on Friday.

Swiss-headquartered Ferrexpo did not provide a reason for the resignation of Deloitte, which declined to comment, while Blooming Land did not respond to a request for comment.

Funding for Blooming Land’s CSR activities is provided by one of Ferrexpo’s units in Ukraine and Khimreaktiv LLC, an entity ultimately controlled by Ferrexpo’s CEO and majority owner Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo said on Tuesday.

Ferrexpo’s board has found that Zhevago did not have significant influence or control over the charity, but Deloitte said it was unable reach a conclusion on this.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

In a qualified opinion, a statement addressing an incomplete audit, Deloitte said it had been unable to conclude whether $33.5 million of CSR donations to Blooming Land between 2017 and 2018 was used for “legitimate business payments for charitable purposes”.

Deloitte said on Tuesday that total CSR payments made to Blooming Land by Ferrexpo since 2013 total about $110 million.

Ferrexpo, whose major mines are in Ukraine, has said that the investigation was ongoing and new evidence pointed to potential discrepancies.

Zhevago, 45, who ranked 1,511 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires for 2019 with a net worth of $1.4 billion, owns the FC Vorskla soccer club and has been a member of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Bernard Orr)

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Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba
Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique April 26, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media. SolidarMed via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

JOHANNESBURG/LUANDA (Reuters) – Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.

The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1,000 people across a swathe of southern Africa.

The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600 millimeters of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice that brought by Cyclone Idai.

One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.

In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90 percent of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15,000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.

There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia district, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo.

A local group, the Friends of Pemba Association, had earlier reported that they could not reach people in Muidumbe, a district further inland.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned the storm could require another major humanitarian operation in Mozambique.

“Cyclone Kenneth marks the first time two cyclones have made landfall in Mozambique during the same season, further stressing the government’s limited resources,” he said in a statement.

FLOOD WARNINGS

Shaquila Alberto, owner of the beach-front Messano Flower Lodge in Macomia, said there were many fallen trees there, and in rural areas people’s homes had been damaged. Some areas of nearby Pemba had no power.

“Even my workers, they said the roof and all the things fell down,” she said by phone.

Further south, in Pemba, Elton Ernesto, a receptionist at Raphael’s Hotel, said there were fallen trees but not too much damage. The hotel had power and water, he said, while phones rang in the background. “The rain has stopped,” he added.

However Michael Charles, an official for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said heavy rains over the next few days were likely to bring a “second wave of destruction” in the form of flooding.

“The houses are not all solid, and the topography is very sandy,” Charles said.

In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.

Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alexandra Zavis)

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A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Surging global oil prices will pose a first big challenge to India’s new government, whoever wins an election now under way, especially as domestic prices have been allowed to lag, meaning consumers are in for a painful surge as they catch up.

For oil-import dependent India, higher global prices could lead to a weaker rupee, higher inflation, the ruling out of interest rate cuts and could further weigh on twin current account and budget deficits, economists warned.

But compounding the future pain, state-run fuel suppliers and retailers have held off passing on to consumers the higher prices during a staggered general election, which began on April 11 and ends on May 23, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That delay is expected to be unwound once the election is over. And there could be additional price increases to make up for losses or profits missed during the period of delayed increases, the sources said.

In some major Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, pump prices are adjusted periodically so they move largely in tandem with international crude prices.

That was what was supposed to happen in India but the election means there have been many days when pump prices have been unchanged.

In New Delhi, for example, while crude oil prices have gone up by nearly $9 a barrel, or about 12 percent, in the past six weeks, gasoline prices have only risen by 0.47 rupees a liter, or 0.6 percent.

State-controlled fuel suppliers and retailers declined to say why they had delayed price increases, or discuss whether there has been any pressure from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A government spokesman declined to comment.

The opposition Congress party said Modi’s government was violating its own policy of daily price revision by advising the state oil companies to hold prices steady.

“The government should cut fuel taxes otherwise consumers will have to pay much higher oil prices once the elections are over,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior leader of the Congress party.

(GRAPHIC: India Polls: Fuel price hike lags crude surge – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XLlxik)

Nitin Goyal, treasurer at the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, representing fuel stations in 25 states, said prices were similarly held down for 19 days in the southern state of Karnataka last year, when it held state assembly elections.

Only for them to surge after the vote.

“Consumers should be ready for a rude shock of a massive jump in retail prices, similar to the level we have seen in the Karnataka state election,” Goyal said.

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at Singapore-based consultancy FGE, said retail prices of gasoline and gasoil prices would have been up to 6 percent, or about 4 rupee, higher if they had been allowed to rise in line with global prices.

“Indian pump prices have failed to keep up with the recent uptrend in crude prices,” Paravaikkarasu said.

“With the country’s general elections underway, the incumbent government has been keeping pump prices relatively unchanged.”

India had switched to a daily price revision in June 2017 from a revision every two weeks, as the government allowed retailers to set prices.

But the government faced protests last October when retailers raised prices by up to 10 rupees a liter after the crude oil price went above $80 a barrel, forcing it to cut fuel taxes.

Global prices rose to their highest level in 2019 on Thursday, days after the United States announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers including India to stop buying Tehran’s oil. [O/R]

Higher oil prices will mean Asia’s third largest economy is likely to see growth of less than 7 percent rate this fiscal year, economists said. Growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the October-December quarter, the slowest in five quarters.

Rating agency CARE has warned that a 10 percent rise in global oil prices could increase demand for dollars, putting pressure on the rupee and widening the current account deficit.

India’s oil import bill rose by nearly one-third in the fiscal year ending March 31 to $140.5 billion, against $108 billion the previous year.

“The increase in international oil prices is a credit negative for the Indian economy,” ICRA, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said in a note.

“Every $10/ bbl increase in crude oil prices increases the fiscal deficit by about 0.1 percent of GDP.”

Any big price rise would also build a case for the central bank to keep rates steady, or even raise them.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which cut the benchmark policy repo rate by 25 basis points this month, warned that rising oil and food prices could push up inflation.

Policymakers are worried that a sustained increase in the oil price in the range of $70-75/barrel or higher can move the rupee down by 3-4 percent on an annual basis.

The rupee has depreciated by 1.24 percent against the dollar since a year high in mid-March.

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Rob Birsel)

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