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Police: Man tried to hide alcohol on breath with body spray

Authorities in South Carolina say a man sprayed Axe body spray in his mouth to cover the smell of alcohol as deputies approached during a traffic stop.

The State newspaper reports that Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies stopped 49-year-old Efren Mencia-Ramirez on Saturday night after they say he sped past a deputy on Interstate 85 and swerved into another lane.

The incident report says there was a 12-pack of beer on the floor and 10 of the beers were nearly empty. The report says Mencia-Ramirez had an open bottle between his legs, exhibited signs of intoxication and failed field sobriety tests.

He faces charges including driving under the influence.

Online records showed Mencia-Ramirez was in custody. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Source: Fox News National

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Appeals court nixes condo’s coed swimming restrictions

A federal appeals court has ruled that a New Jersey condominium association violated women's rights by setting separate swimming hours for male and female residents.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the schedule adopted by A Country Place's condominium association was "plainly unequal in its allotment of favorable swimming times."

The Lakewood condominium complex, which serves people 55 or older, restricts swimming by gender at certain times in accord with Jewish law that prohibits men and women from bathing together. Orthodox Jewish residents made up about two thirds of residents, but several non-Orthodox homeowners sued in 2016 after being fined $50 each after refusing to abide by the rules.

A judge ruled in January that the separate swim hours weren't discriminatory because they applied to both sexes equally, but the appeals court overturned that decision Monday.

Under the rules, men and women were only allowed in the pool together for two hours on weekdays and all day Saturday, when, the court noted, "Orthodox residents would not go swimming on the Jewish Sabbath."

The association said it allocated roughly the same number of hours for men and women, but the court said women were only able to swim for about 3½ hours on weeknight evenings compared to 16½ hours for men.

"Women with regular-hour jobs thus have little access to the pool during the work week, and the schedule appears to reflect particular assumptions about the roles of men and women," Judge Thomas Ambro wrote for the court majority.

An attorney for the plaintiffs, Jose Roman, told the Asbury Park Press that his clients were "very happy that the court saw the case our way, that it was discriminatory based on gender." An attorney for the condominium association didn't immediately return an email seeking comment.

Source: Fox News National

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Tesla walks back its plan to close most showrooms

Tesla is walking back its plan to close most of its showrooms worldwide.

The company said Monday that it's still shifting to online sales, but it won't close as many stores as originally thought.

Tesla announced last month that it would shutter most of its stores to cut costs so it could make money on the $35,000 Model 3 electric car.

The $35,000 base Model 3 will still be available but the company will raise prices 3 percent on all other models.

Tesla now says it closed 10 percent of its stores, but a few of those will be reopened. Another 20 percent are being evaluated and some could stay open.

The company gave no numbers. It had 378 stores and service centers worldwide and about 100 U.S. stores.

Source: Fox News National

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British rock, female artists dominate Rock Hall of Fame induction

Inductee Smith of The Cure performs during the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn, New York
Inductee Robert Smith (R) of The Cure performs during the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

March 30, 2019

By Gina Cherelus

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Musicians and fans gathered in New York City on Friday for a night of British band nostalgia mixed with calls for more inclusion of women as Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks and The Cure were inducted into the 34th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class.

Nicks, who made history on Friday as the first woman inducted twice into the prestigious group, kicked off the night with a performance of some of her biggest hits, such as “Stand Back” and “Edge of Seventeen.” She was inducted in 1998 as a member of rock band Fleetwood Mac.

“She’s so wise and serene. She sees all the romance and drama in the world and she celebrates it,” said singer Harry Styles, who introduced Nicks on stage for her induction.

However, one of the standout moments of the evening was when Jackson, 52, took the stage and called on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee to induct more female artists during the annual ceremony. She also acknowledged her musical family for their impact on popular culture.

“Never in a million years did I expected to follow in their footsteps. Tonight your baby sister has made it,” said Jackson, who did not perform at the ceremony. “And Rock and Roll Hall of Fame please, in 2020, induct more women.”

Singer Janelle Monae dubbed Jackson the “the legendary queen of black girl magic” for hits such as “What Have You Done For Me Lately” and “Escapade” and said she was the blueprint for creating socially conscious music.

“We celebrate you for giving us memories that we wish we could bottle up and save for the next lifetime,” Monae said. “History is not complete without you, Janet.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, sends ballots to more than 1,000 artists, historians and members of the music industry to select inductees. Artists are eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first recording.

The 2019 list of inductees was largely dominated by British artists, featuring bands such as The Zombies, Roxy Music, Def Leppard and Radiohead, who did not perform during the show.

The Cure performed hits such as “Just Like Heaven,” while Def Leppard ended the night with a rocked-out jam session that featured classics “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”

Jackson declined to take questions from reporters and did not mention the “Leaving Neverland” documentary on cable channel HBO about her late brother, Michael Jackson.

The 2019 induction ceremony will be broadcast on HBO on April 27 at 8 p.m. EDT.

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Paul Tait)

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Prominent Venezuelan critic to run for European Parliament

Spain's Popular Party says that the father of prominent Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López will run in the conservative party's ballot for a seat in the European Parliament at the end of May.

The senior Leopoldo López has Spanish nationality. He has campaigned from Madrid against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and for the release of his son from house arrest.

A party statement on Thursday said he will be running in the 12th position in the May 23-26 election.

The Popular Party currently has 16 lawmakers in the Strasbourg-based bloc's chamber.

Leopoldo López, the son, is the leader of the self-described social democrat Voluntad Popular party in Venezuela.

He is also the mentor of Juan Guaidó, who leads the opposition's efforts to remove Maduro from power.

Source: Fox News World

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Netflix, streaming services win Oscars cinema rule battle

FILE PHOTO: The Netflix logo is seen on their office in Hollywood, Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: The Netflix logo is seen on their office in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

April 24, 2019

(Reuters) – In a win for Netflix, Amazon and other internet streaming services, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted not to change its rules for winning an Oscar, Hollywood’s top prize.

The decision follows a battle over how long a movie must play on the big screens in theaters before being launched on the internet, DVD or other mediums that put it on the small screen.

The Academy’s Board of Governors said on Tuesday that the existing rules, which say a movie has to run in a theater for only seven days in Los Angeles to qualify, had won.

“We support the theatrical experience as integral to the art of motion pictures, and this weighed heavily in our discussions,” Academy President John Bailey said in a release.

Some theater owners say short runs at a theater means more people will stay home to watch movies.

And movie producers including Steven Spielberg have said movies that are shown primarily on the small screen should only compete for television awards, such as the Emmys.

In February, Netflix won three Oscars for “Roma,” which streamed three weeks after a limited theatrical debut.

Netflix tweeted that it “loved cinema” but also supported access for people who cannot afford, or do not live close to, theaters.

Shorter windows would keep some customers at home, Greg Marcus, chief executive of The Marcus Corporation, owner of the fourth-largest U.S. theater chain, earlier told Reuters.

“If you damage the business and take away 10 percent of our customers, we won’t be able to reinvest in the theatrical experience,” Marcus said. “That would ultimately hurt content providers.”

Others said consumers are happy with the current system.

Ticket sales in 2018 reached a record $41 billion globally and $12 billion in the United States and Canada, even as Netflix released about 90 movies for streaming.

“We’re not talking about something that’s broken,” Vue International cinemas CEO Tim Richards said in an earlier interview with Reuters.

The Academy’s Bailey said the rule could be revisited next year.

“We plan to further study the profound changes occurring in our industry and continue discussions with our members about these issues,” he said.

(Reporting by Rich McKay and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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Cubs C Caratini out at least a month with broken hand

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs
Apr 11, 2019; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher Victor Caratini (7) hits an RBI double in the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

April 12, 2019

Chicago Cubs catcher Victor Caratini is expected to be out for at least a month after he was placed on the injured list Friday with a fractured bone in his left hand.

Caratini had two of the Cubs’ five hits Thursday night in a 2-0 defeat to the Pittsburgh Pirates but came away with the injury after a swing during that game. He will have surgery Monday to repair a fractured hamate bone and he could be out for up to six weeks.

The Cubs recalled catcher Taylor Davis from Triple-A Iowa prior to Friday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. Davis has just 13 games of major league experience with the Cubs over the past two seasons, getting five hits over 18 at-bats.

Caratini, 25, was batting .571 with three doubles and a home run over six games this season. He played a career high 76 games for the Cubs last season, batting .232 with two home runs and 21 RBIs.

–Field Level Media

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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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