French President Emmanuel Macron and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe give a joint statement to the media at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
April 23, 2019
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday discussed the future of the Renault-Nissan alliance and the investigation in Tokyo into alleged financial misconduct by its former boss Carlos Ghosn, Macron’s office said.
“This industrial partnership has shown its resilience,” a French presidency official said in a statement.
“It is now up to the industry leaders in charge to make the alliance even more solid so that it can face up to the technological disruptions underway in the auto industry,” added the official.
The official said France respected Japan’s judicial system and that France was closely watching to see that Ghosn’s rights were respected.
Japanese prosecutors indicted Carlos Ghosn on Monday on another charge of aggravated breach of trust. The charge came on the day that Ghosn’s latest detention period was set to expire.
(Reporting by Marine Pennetier, Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
An attorney in the $250-million lawsuit filed by a Covington Catholic High School student and his family against The Washington Post told Fox News the colossal damages being sought are “appropriate in this circumstance” – and hinted liberal comedian Bill Maher could soon be served.
The comments from Todd McMurtry last week on "America’s Newsroom" come as law experts are calling the suit – filed on behalf of 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann "by and through his parents" Ted and Julie Sandmann – everything from a “significant case” to one bound to be thrown out.
“Other commentators have sought to say that our damages are too high, but when you think about that those damages never go away and live on the Internet forever, I think they are appropriate in this circumstance,” McMurtry said.
Sandmann was at the center of a January firestorm when a viral video emerged showing a confrontation between Covington high schoolers wearing "Make America Great Again" hats and Native American activist Nathan Phillips at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Footage that later emerged and showed a more complete record of the encounter revealed the standoff didn't unfold as many had initially assumed.
Earlier this month, Sandmann's attorneys sent preservation letters to more than 50 media organizations, celebrities and politicians – including The New York Times, CNN, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and actors Alyssa Milano and Jim Carrey -- the first step in possible libel and defamation lawsuits.
The Washington Post lawsuit is the first of its kind. It was filed on behalf of Sandmann by attorneys Lin Wood and McMurtry, with the latter saying more “will continue to roll out over the next 30 to 60 days.” But the novel litigation also has many observers raising questions about the team's chance for success.
SANDMANN PLACED INTO NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
One of the key issues threatening the suit's survival is whether or not Sandmann is a private figure, as his attorneys claim, or a limited-purpose public figure. That type of public figure was described by the Supreme Court in a 1974 ruling as someone who “thrust themselves to the forefront of particular controversies in order to influence the resolution of the issues involved” and therefore “invite attention and comment.”
The designation is important because, if Sandmann is ruled to be the latter, his attorneys will have to clear a higher bar and prove The Washington Post acted with actual malice against him when it published a “series of false and defamatory print and online articles” about the Covington incident, as opposed to simply proving the newspaper's negligence.
“First, Nick Sandmann is a private individual so we only have to prove negligence,” McMurtry said. “However, if a ruling were to be different and they were to consider him an involuntary public figure and we had to prove malice, we would be able to do that because the Washington Post is a weaponized news outlet that used its power and strength to destroy Nick Sandmann’s reputation."
He added: “And they did that without adequate and appropriate levels of journalistic integrity and reporting and that in itself is malicious. So, I feel comfortable with either standard.”
The lawsuit, filed in a Kentucky district court this week, accuses the newspaper of fanning the flames of the controversy, claiming it “effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to Phillips and other anti-Trump individuals and entities to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the President."
Legendary lawyer Alan Dershowitz, currently a Felix Frankfurter professor of law, emeritus, at Harvard Law School, told The Hill on Wednesday he agrees Sandmann is a private individual.
“This kid is not a public figure,” he told the website. “He didn’t choose to run for office, he’s a kid in school who is applying for colleges and his reputation has been diminished in the eyes of some, and I think you have to distinguish between a high school kid and somebody who is the President of the United States, or a governor of a state or a justice of the Supreme Court.
Dershowitz added he believes Sandmann’s attorneys “have a significant case” and that he is “interested to see what the Post says and how it justifies reporting that turned out to be less than accurate.”
But if it came down to having to prove actual malice, then Sandmann’s legal team faces a tougher road, experts say.
“They got a big, big hurdle to overcome and that is the standard of proving actual knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth,” Frederick M. Lawrence, a distinguished lecturer at Georgetown Law and secretary and CEO of The Phi Beta Kappa Society, told Fox News.
“My hunch on this… even if [The Washington Post] got it wrong, they did not recklessly get it wrong and, as a result, they will prevail,” Lawrence added.
He compared discussion about the Covington lawsuit to the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan case, in which, the Bill of Rights Institute says, the Supreme Court “held that the First Amendment protects newspapers even when they print false statements, as long as the newspapers did not act with ‘actual malice.’"
“The whole reason we have this heightened standard is this is not supposed to be a ‘tie goes to the runner’ proposition,” Lawrence told Fox News.
STATEMENTS OF OPINION VS. FACTS
Many celebrities wasted little time taking to the Internet to tear into the Covington students as the viral video circulated in January. A particular target was Sandmann, whom Maher on his HBO show labeled a “smirk-face kid.”
“I don’t blame the kid, the smirk-face kid. I blame lead poisoning and bad parenting. And, oh yeah, I blame the f---ing kid,” he said.
Others soon joined in on the criticism, with "Will and Grace" actress Debra Messing sharing an image of Sandmann with the caption “mocking, condescending, disrespecting, A—HOLE” and comedian Kathy Griffin urging her followers to “name these kids” and “shame them."
Only some of the celebs – such as film producer Jack Morrissey, who initially posted a gory cartoon with the caption “#MAGAkids go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper” – issued apologies and deleted their messages.
McMurtry told Fox News that “certainly CNN and Bill Maher did things that we consider to have crossed the line."
“We think that the statements they made are defamatory, they’re not humorous and so certainly Bill Maher is somebody we are looking at very carefully and HBO for allowing him to make those defamatory statements,” he said.
However, if Sandmann’s attorneys pursue lawsuits against these organizations and other institutions similar to The Washington Post, what judges deem as fact and what they decide is opinion could end up making or breaking the case.
“Opinions are not statements of falsity,” Lawrence told Fox News. “If I say ‘my neighbor is a creep’ it may not be nice… but it’s an opinion.”
Ben Zipursky, a professor at Fordham Law School, also says defendants would likely raise questions as to whether the statements are defamatory at all, and that The Washington Post lawsuit might wade into the opinion vs. fact debate, too.
“Those are the kinds of issues that the Washington Post lawyers are going to want to push on early because they provide an opportunity to get rid of the case entirely,” he told Fox News.
The newspaper, in its only comment so far on the lawsuit, said earlier last week it is “reviewing a copy of [it], and we plan to mount a vigorous defense.”
Ultimately, Wood says: “things have got to change and there has got to be accountability.”
Fox News' Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.
Plame, a Democrat, said she will make a decision soon about going after the seat currently held by Democrat U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who is stepping down to run for the U.S. Senate.
“Right now, I am going around and meeting with people,” said Plame, a Democrat. “I have a lot to learn and I would like another opportunity to serve my country.”
Her decision to focus on the House after indicating interest in the Senate stems from wanting to “continue Ben Ray’s legacy.”
Plame, 55, told media outlets last month that she planned to run a for Senate seat being held by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., after he announced he would not seek re-election. Plame has been highly critical of President Trump. In 2017, she crowdfunded nearly $90,000 to buy a stake in Twitter in an unsuccessful effort to ban the president from the platform.
The former CIA operative was thrust into the national spotlight when she was outed in a 2003 column that cited officials with the George W. Bush administration as sources of a leak. Plame maintained the revelation was an effort to discredit her then-husband Joe Wilson, a former diplomat who was critical of Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
FILE PHOTO - Kazakhstan's interim President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia April 4, 2019. Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS
April 9, 2019
ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will make a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, his office said, amid speculation that the oil-exporting nation is headed towards an early presidential election.
Tokayev’s office did not disclose the topic of his address scheduled for 13:00 local time (0700 GMT), but it will follow the interim president’s meetings with senior officials and political party leaders to discuss the “domestic political agenda”.
(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
FILE PHOTO: Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd is pictured during an interview with Reuters, in Qamishli, Syria January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said
March 12, 2019
By Ellen Francis
QAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) – Syrian Kurdish authorities that led the fight against Islamic State are prepping for their next battle: a political struggle to win international recognition for their autonomous region and aid to help it recover from the war.
Islamic State’s territorial defeat in Syria marks a critical moment for Kurdish forces who partnered with Washington to fight the jihadists. They now hope Western military allies will lend them political support.
Victory over Islamic State at Baghouz, a shred of land at the Iraqi border, will herald “a new phase”, said Badran Jia Kurd, advisor to the Kurdish-led administration running north and east Syria.
“There will be efforts and a struggle to gain political legitimacy for this administration … and towards finding a peaceful solution” to the Syrian conflict, he told Reuters during an interview in Qamishli.
The main Kurdish parties and their allies hold nearly a quarter of the country – the biggest chunk outside the hands of President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Their control is underpinned by a large military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads.
But while the SDF has developed close ties with the United States, Washington has balked at extending political recognition to the authorities seeking autonomous rule. The West has trodden carefully largely because of the concerns of Turkey, which sees the YPG as part of the outlawed Kurdish PKK movement that has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil for decades.
Just three months ago, Kurdish authorities were thrown into crisis when President Donald Trump abruptly announced his decision to withdraw U.S. forces. Washington has since partially reversed course, and now plans to leave 200 troops in northeast Syria along with about 800 to 1,500 troops from European allies.
Trump’s move drove the Kurdish-led administration to seek fresh talks with Assad via his key ally Russia. They hope for a political deal that would safeguard their autonomy and shield their region from Turkish attack.
LEFT OUT
Millions of Kurds live in territory straddling Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. In Iraq, they govern an autonomous region.
Kurdish leaders have consistently been left out of U.N. efforts toward ending Syria’s eight-year war. They have always insisted their aim is regional autonomy within a federal Syria, not independence. The West’s reluctance to engage politically with them remains a deep source of frustration.
“Honestly, until now, no clear, positive stance has taken shape … even from the actual partners that we fought side by side with,” Jia Kurd said.
Diplomatic efforts would focus on deepening relations with European allies, the United States and other countries in the coalition that has been fighting Islamic State, he said.
He added that foreign states need to help rebuild infrastructure and revive the economy to prevent an Islamic State resurgence or invasion by hostile forces – an apparent reference to Turkey.
Jia Kurd said nascent contacts with Damascus had stalled and accused the Syrian government of a refusal to negotiate.
In a speech last month, Assad warned Kurdish fighters not to rely on Washington and said only the state could protect them.
Assad, now controlling most of the country with Russia and Iran’s help, has pledged to recover every inch.
Jia Kurd said the rhetoric had killed hopes for dialogue and could lead to “a dangerous and catastrophic direction” toward conflict that the administration in the north does not want.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is seen during a public speech in the northern province of Gilan, Iran March 6, 2019. Official President website/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
March 9, 2019
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday called for “decisive” action by Pakistan against a militant group behind a deadly suicide attack in a border area, and said inaction by Islamabad could jeopardize relations between the neighbors.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Rouhani’s remarks came in a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who said he would soon have “good news” for Iran, according to the agency.
A suicide bomber killed 27 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in mid-February in a southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by militants from the country’s Sunni Muslim minority.
The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We are awaiting your decisive operations against these terrorists,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as telling Khan.
“We should not allow decades of friendship and fraternity between the two countries to be affected by the actions of small terrorist groups, the source of whose financing and arms is known to both of us,” Rouhani said.
Iran has blamed its regional rival Saudi Arabia and arch-enemies Israel and the United States for the attack and other cross-border raids, an accusation rejected by the countries.
“It is in Pakistan’s own interest not to allow our territory to be used by terrorist groups, and the Pakistani army is prepared to confront the terrorists more decisively with the information provided by Iran,” IRNA quoted Khan as saying.
Khan said Pakistani forces had come close to the terrorists’ hideout and there would soon be “good news” for Iran, IRNA reported.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Ros Russell)
Electric cars in Germany are emitting more CO2 than diesel vehicles, according to a German study.
By including the CO2 emissions from the production of batteries, the study by the Ifo Institute in Munich found that electric vehicles attribute 11% to 28% more CO2 than their diesel counterparts.
“Mining and processing the lithium, cobalt and manganese used for batteries consume a great deal of energy,” reported the Brussels Times. “A Tesla Model 3 battery, for example, represents between 11 and 15 tonnes of CO2.”
“Given a lifetime of 10 years and an annual travel distance of 15,000 kilometres, this translates into 73 to 98 grams of CO2 per kilometre, scientists Christoph Buchal, Hans-Dieter Karl and Hans-Werner Sinn noted in their study.”
Additionally, the study pointed out that it’s not just the production phase; charging the batteries of electric cars also produces more CO2 due to the increased production of energy required for charging.
That led to the study’s authors criticizing EU regulations that claim fleet emissions for electric vehicles start out at “zero” CO2.
The authors believe that methane-powered gasoline engines are worth looking into instead.
FILE PHOTO – Otto Frederick Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea’s top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo/File Photo
April 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of comatose American student Otto Warmbier.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from North Korea to cover its care of the college student, who died shortly after he was returned to the United States after 17 months in a North Korean prison.
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)
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.
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)
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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