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US military says it killed ISIS-Somalia deputy in drone strike

The U.S. military said Monday it had killed the second in command of a Somalia-based ISIS affiliate in an airstrike over the weekend.

In a statement, U.S. Africa Command said Abdulhakim Dhuqub died in the Bari region of Somalia, an area which includes the tip of the Horn of Africa peninsula.

The statement referred to Dhuqub as ISIS-Somalia’s “second in command” and responsible for the “daily operations of the extremist group, attack planning, and resource procurement."

ISIS MEMBER TASKED WITH 'BRINGING IN MIGRANTS,' NEWLY OBTAINED TERROR GROUP DOCUMENTS SHOW

Africa Command said the strike killed only Dhuqub, and also destroyed a vehicle.

“We continue to work with our Somali partners to keep pressure on the al-Shabaab and ISIS Somalia terror networks," said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, U.S. Africa Command’s director of operations. "When it supports the strategy, we use precision airstrikes to target those who plan and carry out the violent extremist activities that put Somalis at risk."

Not much is known about Dhuqub; his name does not appear on the State Dept.'s Reward for Justice website normally reserved for top terrorists and there is not much information publicly available online. ISIS-Somalia is a relatively small terrorist group consisting of roughly 125 fighters, according to officials.

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The strike took place days after Somalia's prime minister Hassan Khayre visited the White House and the Pentagon.

The U.S. military has launched 31 airstrikes in Somalia this year, following a record-setting 47 last year. In 2017, President Trump authorized the military to conduct offensive strikes in Somalia against Al Qaeda-linked Shabab fighters as well as the ISIS affiliate.

Source: Fox News World

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China March factory activity unexpectedly expands, beats forecast

Employees work on the production line of a factory manufacturing fashion accessories in Sihong
Employees work on the production line of a factory manufacturing fashion accessories in Sihong county, Jiangsu province, China March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

March 31, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Factory activity in China unexpectedly expanded for the first time in four months in March, an official survey showed on Sunday, suggesting government stimulus measures may be starting to take hold.

The official Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in March from February’s three-year low of 49.2, data from the statistics bureau showed. The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction on a monthly basis.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the PMI to come in at 49.5, up slightly from February.

Economic growth in China cooled to its weakest in almost three decades in 2018 and analysts expect a further softening in coming months before a raft of stimulus measures start to kick in. Beijing is targeting economic growth of 6.0-6.5 percent this year.

The government has announced more spending on roads, railways and ports, along with tax cuts of nearly 2 trillion yuan ($297.27 billion) to relieve pressure on strained corporate balance sheets and limit job losses.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Paul Tait)

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Suspected IS militants attack central Libyan town, kill 3

A lawmaker says suspected Islamic State militants attacked a small town in central Libya, killing at least three people, including the mayor.

Ismail al-Sharif said on Tuesday the attack happened overnight. He says the militants torched several houses in the town of al-Fuqaha, south of the coastal city of Sirte, a former IS bastion. IS had also attacked the town in October.

Resident Rabie al-Zidani says the mayor and two other security officials were beheaded in al-Fuqaha.

The attack comes as rival Libyan forces are fighting for control of the country's capital, Tripoli, where the death toll from days of fighting has risen to 51, including both combatants and civilians.

Libya plunged into chaos after the 2011 uprising and is governed by rival administrations, based in country's east and west.

Source: Fox News World

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Box Office: ‘Captain Marvel’ soars to $153 million launch

Cast member Brie Larson interacts with fans at the premiere for the movie
Cast member Brie Larson interacts with fans at the premiere for the movie "Captain Marvel" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

March 10, 2019

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Brie Larson’s “Captain Marvel” is soaring to a heroic opening weekend of $153 million in North America at 4,310 sites, reviving what had been a slumbering 2019 box office.

“Captain Marvel” took in $302 million internationally, giving it an estimated global opening weekend of $455 million — the sixth highest global debut of all time.

The 21st installment of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe propelled total domestic moviegoing to $210 million — nearly $70 million above the same frame last year. It was the first weekend of 2019 to outperform the same frame of 2018.

“Captain Marvel” will wind up with the 18th biggest domestic opening weekend of all time. Disney’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” has the 17th-highest launch frame with $155.1 million in 2016. It will be the biggest opening title since “Incredibles 2” launched with $182 million in June and should post the best start for a standalone superhero film since Marvel’s “Black Panther” launched with $202 million in 2018.

Larson stars as Carol Danvers, the pilot who becomes the vastly powerful Captain Marvel after the Earth is caught at the center of a galactic conflict in 1995. The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. The movie is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

“Captain Marvel” performed well above studio projections, which had pegged the film at $125 million. It took in nearly triple what had been the biggest opener of the year with “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” at $55 million on Feb. 22-24.

Total domestic box office for 2019, which had plunged by 27 percent before the weekend, is now down 21 percent at $1.79 billion, according to Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst.

“Thankfully ‘Captain Marvel’s’ superpowers extend to the box office realm and as expected provided a much-needed box office boost that the 2019 box office has been waiting for with a positively out of this world debut,” he said. “The allure and power of the superhero genre is as powerful as ever and just what blockbuster starved audiences have been waiting for in the form of a perfectly cast Brie Larson in this most powerful role.”

“Captain Marvel” landed an A CinemaScore. Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak survey of audiences resulted in an 81 percent total positive score with a strong 66 percent of audiences saying they would “definitely recommend” the film.

Universal’s third weekend of “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” led the rest of the pack with $14.7 million at 4,402 locations for a 17-day domestic total of $119.7 million. The second weekend of “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral” followed with $12.1 million at 2,442 venues.

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Texas Tech forward Owens uncertain for title game

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-Semifinals-Michigan State vs Texas Tech
Apr 6, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Tariq Owens (11) reacts after an injury during the second half against the Michigan State Spartans in the semifinals of the 2019 men's Final Four at US Bank Stadium. Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

April 7, 2019

Texas Tech forward Tariq Owens was sporting a walking boot on Sunday, but coach Chris Beard told ESPN he expects the senior to play in Monday’s national championship game against Virginia.

Owens sprained his right ankle during the second half of Saturday’s 61-51 victory against Michigan State. He was injured with 14:43 remaining after an awkward fall.

He briefly returned to action but left 74 seconds later with 5:38 remaining.

Owens didn’t practice on Sunday. He also wasn’t made available to the media.

Beard said he would have a better feel for Owens’ availability on Monday.

Owens had seven points, four rebounds and three blocked shots against Michigan State. His season averages are 8.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks.

–Field Level Media

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Teenager who joined IS group in Syria to lose UK citizenship

FILE PHOTO: Renu Begum, sister of teenage British girl Shamima Begum, holds a photo of her sister as she makes an appeal for her to return home at Scotland Yard, in London
FILE PHOTO: Renu Begum, sister of teenage British girl Shamima Begum, holds a photo of her sister as she makes an appeal for her to return home at Scotland Yard, in London, Britain February 22, 2015. REUTERS/Laura Lean/Pool/File Photo

February 19, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Shamima Begum, a teenager who left London when she was aged 15 to join Islamic State in Syria, has had her British citizenship revoked, according to a letter sent to her family published by ITV News on Tuesday.

Begum, who gave birth to a son at the weekend, was discovered in a refugee camp in Syria by a London Times journalist earlier this month. Now aged 19, she has told reporters she wants to return to Britain.

The letter addressed to Begum’s mother said: “Please find enclosed papers that relate to a decision taken by the Home Secretary, to deprive your daughter, Shamima Begum, of her British citizenship.

“In light of the circumstances of your daughter, the notice of the Home Secretary’s decision has been served of file today (19th February), and the order removing her British citizenship has subsequently been made.”

Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid has said he would “not hesitate” to prevent the return to Britain of anyone who has supported terrorist organizations aboard.

Mohammed T Akunjee, a lawyer representing Begum’s family, said on Twitter the family was “very disappointed” by the move.

“We are considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision,” he said.

Sky News, citing government sources, said Begum could have her citizenship revoked because she was a dual British-Bangladeshi national,

Britain’s Home Office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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In Brexit-on-Sea, the left-behind still want Out

The Wider Image: Tea, bingo and cockles - my journey to Brexit-on-Sea
Cockle-picker and fisherman Tony McClure, 39, who voted to leave the EU uses his cockling board to raise cockles from the sands in Flookburgh, Morecambe Bay, Britain February 26, 2019. McClure: "I'm worried about exporting cockles and mussels." REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

April 4, 2019

By Clodagh Kilcoyne and Sara Ledwith

SKEGNESS, England (Reuters) – On a Sunday evening in March, Evelyn Ovington and her granddaughter Dana Marie went to play bingo as usual in their local town hall near Skegness, a resort on the east coast of England. Like many of the country’s seaside towns, it is battling decline and voted heavily to quit the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Top prizes at the club that night included the ingredients for a chicken dinner. Dana Marie, who had just turned 18, marked her coming-of-age by drinking a can of beer. She and her 59-year-old gran joked with the rest of the crowd, spanning all ages, as they waited for the numbers to be called in the traditional way. When the caller said, “The street where she lives, Theresa May,” the players recognized the reference to the prime minister’s residence in Downing Street: Number 10.

But bingo calls are about as close as Evelyn Ovington expects to get to Theresa May. As the target deadline for Britain to quit the EU approached, Ovington and dozens of others whom Reuters met on a 14-day tour along England’s coastline said they felt increasingly let down by politicians. In line with recent opinion polls nationwide, few had changed their minds about backing Brexit. In these coastal areas, the majority still wanted to leave Europe.

“Get us out of there and get us our own nation back. That’s what I say,” said Ovington. “(I’m) just fed up with all the money that they give to the EU when we can spend it here. I want out.”

Britain as a whole voted by a narrow margin to leave the European Union. But around England’s coastline, dislike of EU was and is much more marked. A tally of the results as estimated by Chris Hanretty, a professor of politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, shows more than 100 of the 120 or so English parliamentary constituencies that have a coastline voted to leave. Reuters visited 10 of them: eight where most people voted to leave, and two where a majority chose to stay. From Skegness on the east coast to Morecambe Bay in the west, dozens of people said they were still convinced their fortunes could only improve outside the EU.

The main exception was Brighton, a southern town nicknamed “London-on-Sea,” partly for its appeal to those with jobs in the capital who have an hour-long commute to work. In this cosmopolitan, affluent university town, a clear majority voted to remain in the European community, which the UK joined in 1973.

The overall results reflect a wider trend. Across Europe, economic and industrial decline are driving anti-EU sentiment, according to a European Commission study from December 2018. The paper, “The Geography of EU Discontent,” found that areas with lower employment or a less-educated workforce are more likely to vote anti-EU.

In England’s case, Brexit also highlights a new layer in the political divide, which Prime Minister May alluded to in 2016 when she pledged to help those “left behind” by globalisation. Big cities are becoming younger, more ethnically diverse, more educated and more socially liberal, while smaller towns are ageing, are less diverse, more nostalgic and more socially conservative, studies by political geographers show.

All around the coastline, whether people voted Leave or Remain, they expressed nostalgic regret for a time when there was more opportunity – and kindness. “I think we used to take care of our communities a bit more,” said Brighton-based web designer and massage therapist Chris Baker, adding it was easy to be too romantic about the past. “I think, you know, we had more manners, we were nicer to people on the street.”

For Ovington, the problem is very real: She worries that her granddaughter’s 18th birthday brings nearer the moment when Dana Marie, like other young people in the region, will move away to university and work.

Ovington hopes Brexit means the local council can claim funds that in her view are currently being mis-directed into Europe, and invest them in a future for local young people. “At the moment there is no future for them, there’s nothing,” she said. “So out of Brexit, they’ll get more funding, help the kids more.”

SKEGNESS, LINCOLNSHIRE

Coastal regions were targeted in the run-up to the referendum by the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). While UKIP has since lost ground, the frustrations it tapped remain.

Populations on the coast are typically older, whiter, less well-educated and poorer than the average. In 2013, Skegness was designated the “most deprived seaside area in Britain” in a study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). And in 2016 the constituency returned the biggest “Leave” vote in the country, at more than 75 percent, according to Hanretty.

Skegness was the site of the first Butlin’s holiday camp for workers in the 1930s, and is still a popular seaside destination in the summer. But it sits in a poor farming region and has yet to attract year-round visitors.

The mean age of just over 44 in Skegness is older than the English average of just over 39, census data from 2011 shows. More than 93 percent of people in the area said they were white and of English or British nationalities, compared with just under 80 percent in England on average. Around 40 percent of people in the Skegness area said they had no qualifications.

“It’s been going downhill for a long time,” said Dana Marie of the town, adding she would have voted to leave the EU if she had been old enough. She is studying biology, sociology and health and social care at school, and works part time in a Burger King.

“Obviously it’s seasonal, so during the summer it’s really really good, but during the winter it’s terrible.”

In 2010, average hourly pay for people living in the Skegness area was about three-quarters of the British average. By 2018, it had fallen further behind: The national average was 14.36 pounds an hour, according to the ONS. But people living in and around Skegness were making just over 10 pounds an hour.

On a Sunday night in a pub in Wainfleet near Skegness, father and son John and Andrew Eldin were almost the only customers. John, 77, said that to stay in Europe would be to be “ruled by a load of boneheads. I voted out. Because I remembered how good it was before we went in.”

Eldin and his son, a heavy goods driver and mechanic, spoke heatedly about how there has been diminishing care for old farm hands in the region who have been afflicted by arthritis after years harvesting cabbages. Now, they said, locals are undermined in the jobs market by immigrants from eastern Europe who have freedom of access, and also compete for schools and healthcare.

REDCAR, NORTH YORKSHIRE

A militant mood is mounting in Redcar, a small town devastated in 2015 by the closure of its steelworks with the loss of around 3,000 jobs. In January, local media reported, demonstrators marched in yellow vests with the slogan “leave means leave” to urge their member of parliament, who backed the Remain campaign, to quit. The politician did not step down and tensions still run high.

“Life’s gonna change after this because of the politicians” who run the country, said Kevin Calvey, an unemployed 64-year-old. “Everything’s gonna be contested from now on.”

He thinks London is absorbing investment that the rest of the country needs. A new rail link across the capital is costing some $22 billion. The government’s refusal to grant a loan to the Redcar steelworks forced the plant to close. Redcar is a relatively young town, but more than a quarter of residents have no qualifications. Relative pay has declined since 2010.

“London just needs feeding all the time, to the detriment of the rest of the country,” said Calvey. He said he voted to leave the EU “because I didn’t want the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels telling us what to do.”

Fish-and-chip shop owner and Leave voter Mark Scorer works in Redcar because businesses in his home town of Sunderland were too expensive to take on, he said. “I just think Britain’s been on the decline since the 80s,” he said. “There’s not much out there for people, sometimes people have got to move away to get jobs. They go to university to get these degrees and then they move to London … which is a shame.”

Further up the coast, a postcard on sale in the former fishing town of Whitby depicted the shuttered hulk of Redcar’s steelworks above a banner, “dystopia-on-sea.”

WHITBY, NORTH YORKSHIRE

In Whitby harbor, kipper smoker Derek Brown said his family has been in the business for 146 years. For the past 30 or so, he says, the fish he has been smoking has had to be imported from Norway and Iceland because herring can no longer be found off the coast. The reasons for this include overfishing and climate change, but he felt London and Brussels have not helped.

When Britain joined the then European Economic Community, the country opened its fishing waters to other states, which today catch more in UK waters than do UK boats. “I want change,” Brown said. “Hopefully we’ll get our fishing grounds back.”

Pay in the Whitby area has picked up since 2010, but still lags the British average. A higher-than-average share of people say they have no qualifications, and in the 2011 census, 97 percent gave their nationalities as white English or British variants.

Guest house and tea shop owner Alice Raven, 27, said she didn’t vote in the referendum but she sees more opportunities for England outside the EU. Her gothic-themed cafe plays on Whitby’s appeal as the site where the 19th-century novelist Bram Stoker brought his villain, Count Dracula, into England.

“I think leaving would be the best option,” she said, sitting next to a skeleton outside her tea rooms. “I don’t think you can trust any of the government at the moment.”

MORECAMBE, LANCASHIRE

On the northwest coast, fisherwoman Margaret Owen, just back from delivering a batch of sprats to feed the seals in Blackpool Zoo, was boiling over at the politicians’ ignorance. She said it was preventing her from earning a living.

In the summer months Owen, 66, uses a haaf net, an ancient technique dating back to the Vikings to catch salmon and sea trout as they head upriver. The job is dangerous: Users manipulate a device like a cutdown soccer goal post while standing in deep, fast-running water. Owen has until recently been licensed to fish in this traditional way. But now salmon are an endangered species, and from this year she has been told that EU regulations mean she must discard any salmon she catches.

This, she says, is unrealistic, not least because she sometimes fishes at night.

“I stand in the water up to my chest,” she said. “It can be pitch black, turbulent, raining, sand’s going from under your feet. You get it (the fish) in the net, it goes right to the back of the net. You’ve got to catch it, kill it, and put it on your belt and let me tell you, I haven’t got time to say, ‘Are you a sea trout or a salmon?'”

Owen said she originally wanted out of the EU: “We were hoping for a change for everybody.” But now, she says she has changed her mind, because talks so far don’t look like delivering what the fishing industry hoped.

Other fishermen in Morecambe Bay gather shellfish, such as cockles and mussels, for export, mainly to southern Europe. Leaving could restrict their access to European markets, but two of them said they still wanted out, even though they worried about the potential impact on their business. UK cockle fisheries made over four million pounds in 2017.

The EU was originally set up for fair trading, said one of these fishermen, Michael Wilson, but it hasn’t worked out like that. “We’ve countries joining with no money and we were providing money, so it was time to get out or go independent, I think.”

BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX

The Leave vote cuts little ice in Brighton on the south coast, one of the few coastal towns with a clear majority in favor of remaining in Europe. In the wealthier part of town, almost three-quarters of voters wanted to stay in Europe.

“I believe that the Leave campaign was based entirely on lies and there was no way I was going to vote in support of that,” said Ruby McMahon, a 22-year-old literature graduate who works in a clothing store. She came to Brighton in 2015 to go to university, and said she stayed because she had been raised “in a very conservative backwards town.”

Brighton’s demographic profile is almost the mirror image of Skegness. People who live in the town, which houses the UK headquarters of American Express, earn more than the British average – almost 10 percent more in Brighton Pavilion, the richer part of town. The mean age, at 37, is younger than average, according to the 2011 census. Almost 40 percent are educated to the highest level, and around 20 percent of residents say their ethnicity is not white English or British.

McMahon – like the Ovingtons in Skegness – said her vote was partly driven by her aspirations for the future.

But where the Ovingtons want more opportunities at home, McMahon worries that Brexit will damage her chances of living and working outside England: Once outside the European Union, Britons may no longer enjoy freedom of movement.

“I’m scared of how badly handled it’s been,” she said.

(Ledwith reported from London; Additional reporting by Michael Holden; Edited by Janet McBride and Richard Woods)

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FILE PHOTO - Otto Frederick Warmbier is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang North Korea
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.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Susan Heavey)

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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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