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Royal astrologer casts Thai king’s horoscope ahead of coronation

Lertviroj Kowattana, permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, dressed in a traditional costume, greets Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn during the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok
FILE PHOTO: Lertviroj Kowattana, permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, dressed in a traditional costume, greets Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn during the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok, Thailand, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

April 23, 2019

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s royal astrologer cast King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s horoscope on Tuesday in an important ritual to prepare for his elaborate coronation ceremonies next week.

Saffron-clad Buddhist monks chanted as the horoscope for the king’s reign was cast on a golden plaque.

The three-hour ceremony included the inscription of the king’s name and new royal title on another golden plaque, and the carving of the king’s official seal.

Thai culture is steeped in astrology and other forms of divination, and many Thais go to fortune-tellers for everything from guidance on career and love to setting dates for important life events like weddings and business ventures.

Astrology in the royal court, involving rigid rituals and precise calculations, is a world away from commoners’ divinations.

Court astrologers traditionally make predictions about the future at every important transition in the nation’s history.

Court astrologer Chatchai Pinngern cast the horoscope of King Maha Vajiralongkorn in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is attached to the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Neither the horoscope, which notes planetary alignments based on precise details around a person’s birth, nor its interpretation were made public.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 66, was not present for the ceremony but sent a royal representative.

The ceremony also saw the inscription of the king’s new name and title on another golden plate, and an engraving of his royal seal which is an auspicious symbol that is said to show the sovereignty and the majesty of the king.

The royal horoscope and the other two items will play essential roles in Vajiralongkorn’s main coronation events on May 4, as they will be presented to the king by Thailand’s chief of Brahmins, along with other royal regalia.

The coronation ceremonies from May 4 to 6 will be the first the country has seen since Vajiralongkorn’s father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned on May 5, 1950.

King Bhumibol reigned for seven decades before he died in October 2016 at age 88.

(Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat; editing by Kay Johnson and Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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HUD Looks to Crack Down on Illegals Getting Housing Subsidies

The Trump administration wants to crack down on illegal immigrants using government services by strengthening checks around federally subsidized housing.

The Washington Post reported Thursday the Department of Housing and Urban Development will beef up its verification process for people who request housing help.

"We need to make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it," HUD Secretary Ben Carson said, according to the Post. "Given the overwhelming demand for our programs, fairness requires that we devote ourselves to legal residents who have been waiting, some for many years, for access to affordable housing."

Illegal aliens are not eligible to receive subsidies for federal housing programs, but families comprised of both illegal and legal immigrants are eligible — as long as someone with a legal status serves as the head of household.

HUD believes there are roughly 32,000 households illegally taking advantage of federal housing subsidies, the Post reported.

The Trump administration is trying to close loopholes and crack down on illegal immigration, particularly as several caravans from Central America make the long journey from their home countries to the U.S. and ask for asylum.

Source: NewsMax America

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Rockies knock off Marlins

MLB: Colorado Rockies at Miami Marlins
Mar 28, 2019; Miami, FL, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story (27) looks on during batting practice prior a game at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

March 28, 2019

David Dahl went 3-for-4 and Trevor Story homered as the visiting Colorado Rockies opened their season with a 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Thursday afternoon.

Left-hander Kyle Freeland, who went 17-7 last season and finished fourth in the National League Cy Young race, earned the win in his first Opening Day start. He allowed just two hits, one walk and one run in seven innings, striking out five.

Story’s homer was no surprise — he hit 88 long balls from 2016 to 2018. That is the major league record for homers by a shortstop in his first three seasons.

Dahl singled twice and doubled once while scoring two runs and getting an RBI. His first single came in the second inning, and it bounced off pitcher Jose Urena’s left leg.

Urena (0-1) stayed in the game but allowed nine hits and six runs (four earned) in 4 2/3 innings.

Colorado had the first big threat of the game in the third as Chris Iannetta singled and advanced on Freeland’s walk. But Charlie Blackmon flied out to right, where Garrett Cooper caught the ball and fired a one-hopper, nailing Iannetta at third.

The Rockies opened the scoring with four runs on four hits and two errors in the fourth. Nolan Arenado doubled down the third-base line, advanced on Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas’ miscue — a high throw — and scored on Dahl’s line-drive single pulled to right.

Colorado capped the rally with Ryan McMahon’s RBI single — with another run tacked on when center fielder Lewis Brinson couldn’t cleanly field the bouncing hit — and Iannetta’s RBI double.

The Rockies extended their lead to 6-0 in the fifth as Story homered, Dahl doubled, and Ian Desmond followed with an RBI two-bagger.

Marlins pinch hitter JT Riddle, a left-handed batter, led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run. Lefty hitters batted just .185 with two homers off Freeland last season.

Miami also got a pinch-hit solo homer in the eighth as Neil Walker made his Marlins’ debut. Walker swung at a first-pitch fastball from reliever Scott Oberg, and the Marlins closed the scoring with Jorge Alfaro’s solo homer with two outs in the ninth.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Hyundai Motor says to lift auto operating margin to 7 percent by 2022

The logo of Hyundai Motor is seen during the 2017 Seoul Motor Show in Goyang
The logo of Hyundai Motor is seen during the 2017 Seoul Motor Show in Goyang, South Korea, March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

February 27, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor Co said on Wednesday it plans to boost the core automotive businesses’ operating profit margin to 7 percent by 2022, compared with 2.1 percent in 2018, as part of its mid- to long-term plan.

The automaker said it also plans to invest 45.3 trillion won ($40.48 billion) over the next five years in research and development, capital expenditure and future growth areas such as autonomous driving technologies, vehicle electrification and mobility services.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: OANN

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Diabetic inmate with HIV died after being left on cell floor for 21 hours without food or medicine, inquest reveals

An inmate has died at a jail in the United Kingdom after being left lying on the ground of her cell without food or medicine for nearly a day, according to an inquest.

Annabella Landsberg, who was diabetic and HIV positive, was reportedly restrained by four officers at HMP Peterborough in southeast England on Sept. 2, 2017. She was asked to stand up to receive her medication, but said she couldn't because she was having difficulty standing. One officer, Amy Moore, said when she attempted to step over Landsberg, the inmate grabbed her legs, which was when the other officers restrained her as she lay on the ground.

“She said her legs wouldn’t work, so she couldn’t stand up, and she was reaching at the sink. She was kicking her legs about, backwards and forwards. I thought she was trying to be difficult for staff,” Officer Amy Moore said, according to The Guardian.

She was then left overnight under observation by guards, who said she was "mumbling incoherently" throughout the night but was breathing and moving. No one, however, went to check on her during those 21 hours.

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During an inquest following an investigation into her death, it was revealed that the on-duty prison nurse threw water on Landsberg as she lay on the ground, and referred to her as "pathetic."

She was taken to the hospital, where she died three days later. The 45-year-old mother of three was sent to jail on antisocial behavior charges in 2014, a designation that includes a wide array of crimes ranging from public urination to drug dealing. She was serving a four-year sentence for crimes committed under a suspended sentence, BBC reports.

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She reportedly fled to the United Kingdom from her native Zimbabwe after being gang raped there. According to her sister Sandra, Landsberg's mental capacity and health deteriorated significantly after she was diagnosed with HIV in 2007.

The inquest into her death is still ongoing.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. House to vote on overriding Trump veto of resolution ending border emergency

FILE PHOTO: New bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing is seen in Santa Teresa
FILE PHOTO: New bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing is seen in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A test of U.S. Republican lawmakers’ loyalty to President Donald Trump will come on Tuesday when the House of Representatives votes on a long-shot effort to override his veto of a resolution ending the emergency he declared at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Democratic-led House had little expectation of gaining the Republican support needed to reach the roughly 290 votes, or two-thirds majority, required to override Trump’s veto. The 435-member House passed the resolution last month by 245-182, later joined by the Republican-led Senate.

Coming just days after Trump’s partial exoneration in a report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the House vote will hinge largely on perceptions in Congress that the emergency declared by Trump in order to build a border wall trampled on the congressional power to make government spending decisions.

But the Mueller report, which cleared Trump’s campaign team of colluding with Moscow in its meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, may make it more challenging for Republicans to defy the president on a range of issues, including his border emergency.

A Democratic congressional aide said the outcome of the House vote on Tuesday would “probably be similar” to that of Feb. 25 in which 13 Republicans sided with Democrats in support of the resolution.

Some Republicans also predicted little would change, although feelings were mixed about what role the Mueller report would play.

“I think some (Republicans) voted for the last resolution because they’re constitutional purists and see the (president’s) declaration as a usurpation of congressional authority,” said Representative Kenny Marchant of Texas. He voted against the resolution last time, he said, because he believed there is indeed an emergency at the U.S. southern border.

But Representative Tom Cole said some Republicans could be less likely to break with Trump after the Mueller findings.

“Even though the two issues clearly aren’t related, it increases the president’s strength and popularity and puts him in a stronger position,” the Oklahoma lawmaker said.

BYPASSING CONGRESS

Trump declared the border emergency on Feb. 15 in an attempt to bypass Congress and shift taxpayer funds to his proposed wall and away from other uses already approved by Congress.

Congress had refused for two years to meet his demands for funding the wall.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, who voted with Democrats in the Senate to terminate Trump’s border emergency, said she was hopeful more House Republicans would decide to oppose the president on the issue, but was not optimistic.

“This issue is not about whether or not you ought to build a wall, or don’t build a wall, it’s not about your opinion of President Trump, it’s not about border security, it’s about the Constitution and Congress standing up for the power of the purse under Article one, Section 9,” she said. “So I think this is a real important issue.”

Trump has made clamping down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his presidency and it promises to be central to his 2020 re-election campaign.

His drive for billions of dollars to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall – one that he initially promised Mexico would pay for – has placed a wedge between him and Congress, including some Republicans who are uncomfortable talking about a “wall.”

Many in Congress say effective border security requires a range of law enforcement tools and Democrats dispute that there is a crisis at the border.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Additional reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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American fans eagerly expect Meghan and Harry’s baby

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prince Harry (R) arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo

March 19, 2019

By Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fascination, pride and the best soap opera in the world have many Americans eagerly awaiting the impending birth of Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle’s first child.

After some 29 million Americans watched the televised May 2018 wedding of Harry to Californian actress Markle, the prospect of the first British royal baby born to an American mother is proving even more compelling.

“It’s going to be massive,” said J.D. Heyman, deputy editor of People magazine. “When Meghan presents the baby, when Meghan and Harry step out onto a balcony … I think what you will see is an enormous outpouring of affection for both of them.”

“The excitement around this equals the births of certainly Prince William’s babies and, frankly, Harry and William’s birth(s)” more than 30 years ago, Heyman added.

Despite America’s War of Independence fought against Britain some 240 years ago, Americans have long been obsessed with British royals, who regularly feature on the front pages of celebrity magazines.

British producer Nick Bullen, a co-founder of subscription streaming service True Royalty TV, which launched last summer, said a colorful and dramatic history with larger-than-life figures such as King Henry VIII drives the modern fascination with the royal family.

“The British royal family is the best soap opera in town,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

True Royalty TV is based in London but draws its largest number of subscribers from the United States.

While celebrity media outlets are chronicling Markle’s pregnancy with daily pictures and speculation over the baby’s sex and due date, True Royalty TV plans documentaries and talk-show discussions on topics including: how will the royal couple raise their first child?

“Imagine raising an American royal in Britain,” Bullen said. “It’s hard enough I think for a lot of Americans to come to London and get to grips with boarding schools and prep schools and little caps and little shorts and how we raise children in the UK.

“Will Dorian, Meghan’s mum, be involved in the baby’s raising?” Bullen said. “Will it have holidays in California? Will it be doing baby yoga? People want to know all that level of detail.”

Not everyone is getting caught up in royal baby fever.

“I actually don’t have too much of an opinion about it,” shrugged Evan Jorgensen, as he strolled along the Venice Beach boardwalk in California on Monday.

But most people Reuters spoke to said they were excited and pleased. Americans feel tremendous affection toward Markle, said Heyman.

“There’s a personal pride that many people feel, that an average American girl of a multiracial background has risen to this position,” he said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross; Writing by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Nick Carey)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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