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Aid group: Migrants held in Libya suffer from malnutrition

Dozens of migrants are suffering from malnutrition in a detention center in Libya's capital, an international charity said Thursday.

Doctors Without Borders said its survey showed that over 300 people, including more than 100 children, are being held in the Sabaa detention center in Tripoli. Around 75 detainees are malnourished or underweight, with children significantly more likely to suffer moderate or severe malnutrition, it said. Several people reported receiving only one meal every two to three days, with new arrivals waiting four days before receiving food.

"What we see today in this single detention center is symptomatic of an uncontrolled, unjustified, and reckless system that puts the lives of refugees and migrants at risk," said Karline Kleijer, Doctors Without Borders' head of emergencies.

She urged Libyan authorities to release those held in Sabaa, almost half of whom have been detained for six months or more.

Libya was plunged into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, and has since emerged as a major transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and seeking a better life in Europe.

Rights groups say migrants face exploitation and abuse in Libya at the hands of smugglers and local militias.

In recent years, European countries have provided training and funds to Libyan authorities to reduce hazardous sea crossings, which have claimed thousands of lives. But critics say those efforts leave the migrants trapped in Libya.

Sam Turner, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Tunisia, said the EU policies to address migration "are directly resulting in people being held in these conditions in Libya."

"It is an extremely cynical approach ... and the cost is human lives," he said.

Last month, Libyan police moved in to end a protest by migrants held at the Trig al-Sikka detention center in Tripoli, setting off clashes in which around 50 people were wounded, according to the U.N.'s migration agency.

Doctors Without Borders says an estimated 670,000 migrants are in Libya, including 5,700 held in detention centers, where they are regularly exposed to human rights abuses including extortion, torture, sexual violence and forced labor.

Source: Fox News World

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Florida man charged with sexual battery on underage girl he allegedly lured after claiming to be 'Instagram famous'

A man was charged with sexual battery after he allegedly hired a driver to transport an underage girl from Texas to his family's home in Florida before holding her captive for three days, police said.

Richard Brown, 25, allegedly convinced the young girl he was "Instagram famous" and could provide for her. The two met on the social-media site and chatted for several months before Brown convinced her to visit him at his parents' home in Apopka, Fla., near Orlando, according to an affidavit. He then allegedly paid over $800 for the car taking her from San Antonio to Apopka.

When she got there, however, she realized that he was not who she believed he was -- but he responded by claiming she "owed him for bringing her out here," investigators said. She allegedly was sexually battered several times while the suspect took drugs including cocaine over the course of three days, the affidavit stated.

DOG DIES AFTER ATTACKING GUNMAN, PROTECTING FAMILY DURING SHOOTING

Eventually, after Brown fell asleep, the girl was able to escape the home and tried to walk to a fire station while video-chatting with her mother, according to investigators, who added that she ultimately called 911.

"We see several inconsistencies with this affidavit," Brown's attorney told Fox 35. "The victim said to police she met Mr. Brown through Instagram but somehow her account was hacked, couldn't download the messages to show police."

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Brown reportedly said that he was friends with the girl and that they had not had sex, and he denied taking drugs.

Brown reportedly faced three charges of sexual battery on a child aged 12-17, and one charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was behind bars in Orange County on $40,000 bond.

Source: Fox News National

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Combined NCAA championships planned for 2020, 2023

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-City Scenes
Apr 8, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A general view of a national championship trophy sculpture outside before the championship game between the Virginia Cavaliers and Texas Tech Red Raiders. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

April 24, 2019

The NCAA will crown the men’s basketball champions from Divisions I, II and III in Atlanta in 2020, with the women to follow the same combined format in Dallas in 2023.

The 2020 NCAA Men’s Final Four will be April 4 and 6 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with the Division II and Division III championships decided April 5 at State Farm Arena.

The 2023 Women’s Final Four will take place March 31 and April 2, and the D-II and D-III title games will be on April 1. All games will be at the American Airlines Center.

“Conducting all three basketball championships in one city on the same weekend provides student-athletes from each division a unique experience,” Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re thrilled that our membership approved of doing this again, and we’re confident that this is going to be another huge success.”

This is the second time for both sports that the same city has hosted all three championship events, with Atlanta hosting the men in 2013 and the women finishing in Indianapolis in 2016.

“What struck me when we last did this in Atlanta in 2013 were the looks on the faces of the Division II and III student-athletes when they were introduced during the Final Four in front of 70,000 people,” Gavitt said. “You could tell how special it was for them, their families and the fans of those schools to get that type of recognition.”

–Field Level Media

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Prosecutors: No charges for teen who deputies slammed down

Prosecutors aren't filing charges against a Florida teen who was arrested after deputies pepper-sprayed him and slammed his head into the ground.

The Broward County State Attorney's Office released a statement Tuesday saying no charges would be filed against the 15-year-old following last week's altercation in Tamarac. The prosecutors say an investigation into the deputies is ongoing.

The deputies responded to a fight Thursday outside a McDonald's where about 200 students had gathered. Authorities say the teen picked up a phone belonging to a student being detained.

Video shows Sgt. Greg LaCerra sprayed the teen after he stood up and appeared to say something. LaCerra then threw him to the ground and Deputy Christopher Krickovich slammed his head twice and punched him.

Krickovich was placed on restricted duty. His union says he acted in self-defense. The teen wasn't seriously hurt.

Source: Fox News National

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Warren may be too wonkish to connect with voters, some say

Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign announced the candidate’s next scheduled visits to Iowa on Saturday – amid talk that the senator from Massachusetts may be viewed as too much of a policy wonk to win the party's 2020 nomination.

Warren will return to Iowa March 29-30 with plans to speak at a rally in Storm Lake, hold meet-and-greets in Marshalltown and Perry, and attend an organizing event in West Des Moines, FOX 28 of Cedar Rapids reported.

WILL THE 3 B'S (BETO, BIDEN AND BERNIE) LEAVE ELIZABETH WARREN ON THE SIDELINES IN 2020?

But her focus on breaking up tech giants, ending the electoral college, imposing lobbying bans on elected officials after they leave office and establishing universal pre-K and child care programs – all popular ideas with many Democratic voters – don’t seem to be translating into actual support for Warren, NPR reported.

“You hear from people that [Warren] sort of reminds them of Hillary [Clinton], which they mean in a purely stylistic sense,” Michelle Goldberg, a New York Times columnist, said on the newspaper’s podcast the Argument. “It leads me to wonder: What is the salience of policy in a Democratic primary — or in our politics at all?”

“You hear from people that [Warren] sort of reminds them of Hillary [Clinton], which they mean in a purely stylistic sense.”

— Michelle Goldberg, New York Times columnist

"I just don't know if she would go over nationally," former New Hampshire state Rep. Daniel Hansberry told the Associated Press. He was among 27 current and former state lawmakers who signed a 2015 letter urging Warren to seek the presidency.

"In the Northeast and on the West Coast I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she got a huge vote," Hansberry said. "But I don't know if she's too progressive for other parts of the country."

In other words, when it comes time to choose a candidate, many voters may prefer the sizzle rather than the steak.

That concept may explain why Donald Trump topped Hillary Clinton in 2016, Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution wrote soon after that election.

"What Donald Trump did during the campaign was to paint in a very broad brush," Reeves wrote. "Rather than having a debate about immigration policy in the round, [Trump asked], 'Are you for or against the wall? Are you for or against the Muslim ban?’”

Warren’s failure to catch fire seems reflected in dollars: A federal filing shows she raised at least $300,000 on the day she launched her campaign – far short of the $6.1 million raised by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, the $6 million raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., or the $1.5 million raised by Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

Nevertheless, Warren seems to be sticking with the idea that in 2020 the devil – i.e, the votes – may be in the details.

“The rules of our economy are so rigged in favor of the rich and powerful,” Warren recently told Time magazine, “that we can’t afford to just tinker around the edges. Our fight is for big, structural change.

"The rules of our economy are so rigged in favor of the rich and powerful that we can’t afford to just tinker around the edges. Our fight is for big, structural change."

— U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

“This is the time for Democrats to identify exactly what’s broken,” she continued, “and lay out exactly how we’ll fix it.”

Aside from the idea the Warren may be focused too sharply on policy details, others note that many voters may associate Warren with an event that worked against her: Her release of DNA results last October in a bid to prove her claims of Native American ancestry – which won her the derisive nickname “Pocahontas” from President Trump.

Warren ended up apologizing to the head of the Cherokee Nation in early February, amid claims that she had exaggerated her ancestry for personal gain. Then just days afterward, reports surfaced that Warren had claimed Native American heritage on a 1986 Texas State Bar registration form.

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Finally, Warren – and yes, some other Democrats in the 2020 field -- faces an unfortunate historical fact: Voters seldom back U.S. senators for the presidency, preferring Congress members and governors instead.

When Sen. Barack Obama was elected in 2008, he became just the third sitting senator – behind Warren Harding and John F. Kennedy – to win the White House, Politico reported.

So the obstacles between Warren and the White House would seem to make her potential election as the nation’s first female president even more of an achievement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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2020 hopeful Gov. Jay Inslee challenges President Trump to release tax returns

After releasing 12 years of tax returns on his campaign website, Washington governor and 2020 presidential candidate Jay Inslee urged President Donald Trump to do the same.

Inslee became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to release his tax returns, making the announcement on "Fox & Friends" Friday. Inslee said he had released 12 years of his personal tax records on his campaign website and called on the president to “come clean with the American People.”

“He’s got to show what he’s been hiding,” Inslee said. “Americans deserve that truth.”

Trump broke with decades of tradition by not releasing his tax filings during his 2016 campaign. He argued he couldn't release his taxes because he was under an audit by the Internal Revenue Service, but being under audit is no legal bar to a candidate from disclosing taxes.

After his "Fox & Friends" appearance, Inslee tweeted: “Just now, on @realDonaldTrump's favorite show, @foxandfriends, I announced I’m releasing 12 years of tax returns, and called on him to finally be transparent with the American people.”

WASHINGTON GOV. JAY INSLEE ANNOUNCES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID 

Inslee announced his Democratic presidential bid earlier this month, which made him the first governor to enter an already-crowded field of senators and other hopefuls battling to challenge President Trump in 2020.

Tax returns paint a fuller picture of a presidential candidate's financial situation, from income and revenues to the effective tax rate they pay to charitable donations and overseas holdings.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, became the first 2020 presidential candidate to unveil her 2018 returns when she disclosed the documents on Wednesday.

The 2020 hopeful urged her rivals to follow in her footsteps and make their returns public, as Democrats continue to slam Trump for not releasing his returns during his 2016 presidential run.

“Join me in calling on every presidential candidate to disclose their taxes. This is what transparency and accountability is all about,” Gillibrand said in a video.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has promised to release 10 years of his tax returns but hasn’t done so yet. He said he will make the returns public “soon.”

GILLIBRAND THE FIRST 2020 DEMOCRAT TO UNVEIL 2018 TAX RETURNS: SEE WHAT SHE MADE 

Another White House contender, Sen. Elizabeth Warren highlighted that she has released the past decade of her tax returns and like Gillibrand, has urged the other candidates to do the same.

The Massachusetts Democrat has yet to release her 2018 returns. Her campaign told Fox News she will, once she files her 2018 returns.

The tax filing season doesn’t end until April 15.

On "Fox & Friends" Friday, Inslee also made the case for climate change. It is a topic his campaign is focused on with the goal of building “a national movement to defeat climate change,” according to Inslee's website.

“This is a can-do nation. We put a man on the moon, we defeated fascism and we can use our smarts to build a clean energy economy like we are doing right today and we are doing it all across America,” said Inslee. “We need an inspirational leader, not a pessimistic one in the White House. I think I am ready for that job. This country needs that spark of optimism.”

TRUMP MOCKS GREEN NEW DEAL, POKES FUN AT ELECTRIC CARS DURING MICHIGAN RALLY 

Inslee made the case for climate change on Fox & Friends Friday, after Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids, MI the day before for a campaign rally where he said, “I love campaigning against the Green New Deal.”

“No more airplanes, no more cows, one car per family, one car, you are going to love that in Michigan,” Trump said at the rally.

The Green New Deal, championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., calls for the U.S. to shift away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable sources such as wind and solar power. It also calls for virtual elimination by 2030 of greenhouse gas emissions that have been tied to climate change.

Trump's jabs came days after 42 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted "present" on a non-binding resolution that would have begun debate on the Green New Deal. Not a single senator voted to break the filibuster, while 57 senators -- including three Democrats and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine -- voted "no." In addition to Sanders, five Democratic presidential candidates who have previously backed the Green New Deal voted "present": Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Democrats described the vote, orchestrated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as a "sham vote" meant to avoid a genuine debate on the effects of climate change.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Options-based funds offer succor to investors wary of volatility

FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 3, 2019

By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s pivot on tightening U.S. monetary policy this year and a change in a bond market gauge that is often viewed as a harbinger of a recession pose a dilemma for investors: how to stay in stocks without running the risk of losing one’s shirt when risk assets stumble.

Alternative mutual funds that use options to maintain exposure to stocks even as they tamp down volatility could provide the buffer between mild gains and massive losses.

“We definitely think now is a good time to be looking at strategies that can both participate in market advances and reliably deliver protection,” said David Jilek, chief investment strategist at Gateway Investment Advisers in Boston.

The $8.27 billion Gateway Fund – the oldest and largest fund in Morningstar’s options-based category – has a three-decade history of running low-volatility equity index options strategies.

The fund, which marries stock ownership with index call and put options hedges, aims to capture a portion of equity market returns but with less volatility.

In the fourth quarter when the S&P 500 Total Return index tanked 13.52%, the fund’s Y class shares fell only 7.47%. On the flip side, when stocks rebounded 13.65% in the first quarter, the fund’s shares only gained 5.01%.

Like any investment, gaining protection from volatility carries risk. Over the longterm, investors may miss out on big gains by opting for nearterm protection from huge losses.

For instance, an investment of $10,000 in the Gateway fund 10 years ago would now be worth about $17,500, according to Thomson Reuters data. By comparison, the same amount invested in the S&P 500 S&P 500 Index’s tracking fund, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, would have returned more than $44,000, albeit with a higher degree of volatility.

“Investors would be better off just putting their money in passive funds,” said Mark Hebner, president of Irvine, California-based independent financial adviser Index Funds Advisors.

Equity markets have enjoyed a period of very low volatility and strong returns over the last decade, but that may be set to change.

Stocks tumbled hard late last year, as investors fretted over mounting concerns about global growth, waning corporate profits, U.S.-China trade tensions and the Fed’s path on rate hikes.

Even though most of those losses have been recouped, jitters remain, with some worrying that the Fed’s dovish tilt is an implicit confirmation of the markets’ anxiety about growth.

The recent inversion of the yield curve — the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond slipped below 3-month T-bill rates for the first time in more than a decade – is considered a classic signal that a recession may follow in the next one to two years.

“I think there are a lot of advisers who are looking for that downside protection, but they don’t want to bet against the market and they don’t want to be overallocated to bonds. Our strategy fits that need pretty well,” Jilek said.

GRAPHIC: Gateway fund performance, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2VcjmDs

ROCKY PATH AHEAD

Notwithstanding worries about an approaching recession, quitting stocks altogether may prove expensive.

“Historically, equity markets tended to produce some of the strongest returns in the months and quarters following an inversion,” J.P. Morgan strategist Marko Kolanovic said in a recent note.

But it might not be all smooth sailing.

“The last three years of the ’90s bull market were very profitable but very volatile,” said Eli Pars, co-chief investment officer at fund manager Calamos Investments in Chicago. “We may be looking at a period like that again.”

Pars leads strategy for the Calamos Hedged Equity Income Fund, which uses a covered call strategy – selling call options against a portfolio of equities – while using puts to limit downside.

“It’s geared toward investors that may be a little less comfortable – either because where we are in the cycle or just in general – with full-on exposure to the equity market,” Pars said.

For 2018 fourth quarter, the fund fell 6.32%, compared with a drop of 13.52% for the S&P 500 Total Return index, according to Morningstar data. In the 2019 first quarter, the fund’s shares gained 6.38%, compared with a 13.65% gain for stocks.

The fund, a relatively new spinoff from the $6 billion Calamos Market Neutral Income Fund, has gone from managing $10 million to $160 million over the last 18 months, Pars said.

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; editing by Jennifer Ablan and Leslie Adler)

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)

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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)

Source: OANN

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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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