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Spain’s Socialists seen gaining support ahead of April election: El Pais

FILE PHOTO: Spain's PM Sanchez arrives at Parliament in Madrid
FILE PHOTO: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives at Parliament in Madrid, Spain, February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Juan Medina/File Photo

March 13, 2019

MADRID (Reuters) – Support for Spain’s Socialists was seen rising ahead of the April 28 election in a poll of polls published by newspaper El Pais late on Tuesday, though the ruling party was expected to fall well short of a majority.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s party was seen winning 27.3 percent of the vote, up since he announced the snap election Feb. 15, while the main conservative opposition, the People’s Party (PP), saw support drop to 20.0 percent.

Backing for far-right party Vox rose sharply to 12.1 percent, while support for new parties centre-right Ciudadanos and Podemos fell to 16.3 percent and 13.8 percent respectively.

The results are an average, calculated by El Pais, of several opinion polls.

(Reporting by Belen Carreno; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Ingrid Melander)

Source: OANN

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China should fine-tune monetary policy based on economic growth, price changes: Xinhua

FILE PHOTO: A man checks phone at Lujiazui financial district in Pudong
FILE PHOTO: A man checks phone at Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, China March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

April 22, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – China should fine-tune monetary policy in a pre-emptive way ,based on economic growth and price changes, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Monday, citing a top-level meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping.

Monetary policy should be kept neither too tight, nor too loose, Xinhua quoted the meeting as saying, adding that China will step up fiscal policy and strengthen macro counter-cyclical adjustments, a phrase that usually refers to efforts to reduce pressure on the slowing economy.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: OANN

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May expected to offer her job for Brexit deal as parliament tries multiple choice

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street in London
British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

March 27, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected on Wednesday to indicate a date for quitting as the price for getting her twice-defeated Brexit deal ratified, while parliament tries to select its own alternative from a multiple-choice list of options.

As the United Kingdom’s three-year Brexit crisis spins towards its finale, it is still uncertain how, when or even if it will leave the European Union, though May hopes to bring her deal back to parliament later this week.

With British politics at fever pitch, lawmakers on Wednesday grab control to have so-called indicative votes on Brexit, with options ranging from a much closer post-exit alignment with the EU to leaving without a deal or revoking the divorce papers.

Just two days before the United Kingdom had been originally due to leave the EU on March 29, some of the most influential Brexit-supporting rebels, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, have now reluctantly fallen in behind May’s deal.

The price for May may be her job.

She is expected to indicate a date for her departure at a showdown with Conservative Party lawmakers at a meeting of the 1922 Committee in Westminster at around 1700 GMT.

Before that, lawmakers start a debate on what sort of EU divorce the world’s fifth largest economy should go for. They will vote at 1900 GMT on a ballot paper for as many proposals as they wish. Results will be announced after 2100 GMT.

“The prime minister might get a deal over the line on Thursday or Friday,” said Oliver Letwin, a Conservative former cabinet minister who has led parliament’s unusual power grab. “If she does, no one would be happier than I am.”

“If, however, that doesn’t happen and if we do go forward to Monday, and if on Monday one or more propositions get a majority backing in the House of Commons, then we will have to work with the government to get the government to implement them.”

The uncertainty around Brexit, the United Kingdom’s most significant political and economic move since World War Two, has left allies and investors aghast.

Opponents fear Brexit will divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

BREXIT FINALE?

Supporters say while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed experiment in European unity.

May’s deal, an attempt to soothe the divide of the 2016 referendum by leaving the formal structures of the EU while preserving close economic and security ties, was defeated in parliament by 149 votes on March 12 and by 230 votes on Jan. 15.

It is unclear if parliament’s attempt to find an alternative will produce a majority. Options to be voted on also include a public vote on any deal or an enhanced Norway-style deal.

Brexit supporters fear the entire divorce is at risk. The government could try to ignore the votes, though if May’s deal fails then an election could be the only way to avoid parliament’s alternative proposal.

She still hopes to get her deal, struck with the EU in November after more than two years of negotiation, approved.

To succeed, May needs at least 75 lawmakers to come over – dozens of rebels in her Conservative Party, some opposition Labour Party lawmakers and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up her minority government.

“I am now willing to support it if the Democratic Unionist Party does,” Rees-Mogg wrote in the Daily Mail. “The numbers in parliament make it clear that all the other potential outcomes are worse and an awkward reality needs to be faced.”

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; additional reporting by William Schomberg, Elisabeth O’Leary and James Davey; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: OANN

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Volvo expects electric car margins to match conventional vehicles by 2025

FILE PHOTO: An electric vehicle charging cable is seen on the bonnet of a Volvo hybrid car in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: An electric vehicle charging cable is seen on the bonnet of a Volvo hybrid car in this picture illustration taken July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Phil Noble/Illustration

March 20, 2019

By Esha Vaish

GOTHENBURG (Reuters) – Volvo Cars expects its margins on electric cars to match those of vehicles with combustion engines by 2025, the head of the Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker told Reuters.

Global automakers are planning a $300 billion surge in spending on electric vehicle technology over the next five to 10 years but have admitted that higher component costs and limited take-up in initial years will hit margins.

Volvo is investing about 5 percent of its annual revenue, equating to a little more than $1 billion a year, in building driverless and electric cars and has promised to deliver five fully electric cars to market in the next few years.

It showcased the first less than a month ago, made by its luxury performance brand Polestar to rival to Tesla’s Model 3. It also plans to launch a Volvo-branded electric compact SUV this year in the company’s push to derive 50 percent of its sales from fully electric cars by 2025.

“It’s very difficult to say if we’re going to have the same margins in 2025 as we had in 2015 … because electric cars are very expensive,” Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters on the sidelines of a safety showcase by the company in Gothenburg.

“But I would be absolute sure we will have the same margins with electric cars as we will with conventional combustion cars in 2025.”

Samuelsson said the convergence would be helped by reducing costs for components such as batteries and declining margins on conventional cars.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Gothenburg; Editing by David Goodman)

Source: OANN

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Exclusive: How Iran fuel oil exports beat U.S. sanctions in tanker odyssey to Asia

FILE PHOTO: A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf
FILE PHOTO: A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf, Iran, July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo

March 20, 2019

By Roslan Khasawneh, Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmed Elumami

SINGAPORE/BAGHDAD/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – At least two tankers have ferried Iranian fuel oil to Asia in recent months despite U.S. sanctions against such shipments, according to a Reuters analysis of ship-tracking data and port information, as well as interviews with brokers and traders.

The shipments were loaded onto tankers with documents showing the fuel oil was Iraqi. But three Iraqi oil industry sources and Prakash Vakkayil, a manager at United Arab Emirates (UAE) shipping services firm Yacht International Co, said the papers were forged.

The people said they did not know who forged the documents, nor when.

The transfers show at least some Iranian fuel oil is being traded despite the reimposition of sanctions in November 2018, as Washington seeks to pressure Iran into abandoning nuclear and missile programs. They also show how some traders have revived tactics that were used to skirt sanctions against Iran between 2012 and 2016. (https://reut.rs/2NF1fTK)

“Some buyers…will want Iranian oil regardless of U.S. strategic objectives to deny Tehran oil revenue, and Iran will find a way to keep some volumes flowing,” said Peter Kiernan, lead energy analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

While the United States has granted eight countries temporary waivers allowing limited purchases of Iranian crude oil, these exemptions do not cover products refined from crude, including fuel oil, mainly used to power the engines of large ships.

NO RECORD AT BASRA

Documents forwarded to Reuters by ship owners say a 300,000 tonne-supertanker, the Grace 1, took on fuel oil at Basra, Iraq, between Dec. 10 and 12, 2018. But Basra port loading schedules reviewed by Reuters do not list the Grace 1 as being in port during those dates.

One Iraqi industry source with knowledge of the port’s operations confirmed there were no records of the Grace 1 at Basra during this period.

Reuters examined data from four ship-tracking information providers – Refinitiv, Kpler, IHS Markit and Vessel Finder – to locate the Grace 1 during that time. All four showed that the Grace 1 had its Automatic Identification System (AIS), or transponder, switched off between Nov. 30 and Dec. 14, 2018, meaning its location could not be tracked.

The Grace 1 then re-appeared in waters near Iran’s port of Bandar Assaluyeh, fully loaded, data showed. The cargo was transferred onto two smaller ships in UAE waters in January, from where one ship delivered fuel oil to Singapore in February.

Shipping documents showed about 284,000 tonnes of fuel oil were transferred in the cargoes tracked by Reuters, worth about $120 million at current prices.

Officials at Iran’s oil ministry declined to comment.

Singapore customs did not respond to requests for comment.

The Grace 1, a Panamanian-flagged tanker, is managed by Singapore-based shipping services firm IShips Management Pte Ltd, according to data. IShips did not respond to several requests for comment via email or phone.

A Reuters reporter visited the office listed on IShips’ website but was told by the current tenant that the company had moved out two years earlier.

(MAP: Grace 1 tanker movement between Iraq, Iran and the UAE – https://tmsnrt.rs/2FkRjMK)

SHIP-TO-SHIP TRANSFERS

The ship-tracking data analyzed by Reuters showed the Grace 1 emerged from the period when it did not transmit its location almost 500 kilometers south of Iraq. It was close to the Iranian coast with its draught – how deep a vessel sits in water – near maximum, indicating its cargo tanks were filled.

The Grace 1 transferred its cargo to two smaller tankers between Jan. 16 and 22 in waters offshore Fujairah in the UAE, data showed.

One of those vessels, the 130,000 tonne-capacity Kriti Island, offloaded fuel oil into a storage terminal in Singapore around Feb. 5 to 7. Reuters was unable to determine who purchased the fuel oil for storage in Singapore.

The Kriti Island is managed by Greece’s Avin International SA.

The tanker was chartered by Singapore-based Blutide Pte Ltd for its voyage to Singapore, Avin International’s Chief Executive Officer George Mylonas told Reuters. Mylonas confirmed the Kriti Island took on fuel oil from the Grace 1.

There is no indication that Avin International knowingly shipped Iranian fuel oil. Mylonas said his firm had conducted all necessary due diligence to ensure the cargo’s legitimate origin.

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

Mylonas emailed Reuters a copy of a Certificate of Origin (COO) that he said was provided by the charterers – referring to Blutide – showing the Grace 1 loaded fuel oil at Basra on Dec. 10 and 12, 2018.

“The Certificate of Origin and all the information obtained did not reveal any connection with Iran, let alone that the cargo of fuel oil originated” from there, Mylonas wrote.

Mylonas said the Grace 1’s owners, managers, shippers, receivers and charterers were screened by Avin International. “There were not circumstances that would make the COO of dubious origin,” he said via email.

He said he had been told by the charterers that the Grace 1 only stopped in waters off Iran in late December and early January for “repairs of damaged diesel generators” before sailing to Fujairah.

The document provided by Mylonas says Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO certified the Grace 1 in December loaded a total of 284,261 tonnes of Iraqi fuel oil.

Reuters shared the document with a SOMO official in Iraq who said it was “faked” and “completely wrong”. The official declined to be identified by name, citing the marketer’s communications policy.

Two other Iraqi oil industry sources with direct knowledge of Basra port and oil industry operations also said the documentation was forged.

The two sources said the document bore the signature of a manager who was not working at Basra port on the stated dates. The document also bears contradictory dates: It indicates a loading period of Dec. 10 and 12, 2018 but a sign-off date for the transaction of Jan. 12, 2018.

‘CONSIDER TO BE FORGED’

Data showed the second tanker into which the Grace 1 transferred cargo was the Marshal Z, also a 130,000-tonne vessel.

It was bound for Singapore in the first half of February but changed course on Feb. 15, parking off western Malaysia. Reuters was unable to determine who owns the Marshal Z, nor who chartered it.

Around Feb. 25, the Marshal Z transferred its cargo to another vessel called the Libya, owned and managed by Tripoli-based General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC).

A GNMTC spokesman said the Libya was chartered by Blutide, the same Singapore firm that chartered the Kriti Island.

    Blutide registered as a company in Singapore on May 14, 2018. Its sole listed shareholder and only director, Singaporean Basheer Sayeed, said by telephone on Feb. 7 he was retired and not in a position to comment on the company’s activity.

The Libya’s owner GNMTC “was not aware, at any stage that the cargo is linked in any way to Iran,” the company’s spokesman said via email.

GNMTC provided Reuters with a copy of a COO that it said was issued by shipping services company Yacht International, based in Fujairah, showing the Marshal Z loaded Iraqi-origin fuel oil during a ship-to-ship transfer in UAE waters on Jan. 23.

However, Yacht International shipping manager Prakash Vakkayil said in an email his firm did not issue the certificate and “considers it to be forged”.

The GNMTC spokesman did not respond to follow-up questions from Reuters.

    As of March 20, data showed the Libya was located alongside the Marshal Z offshore western Malaysia, the position vessels typically adopt for ship-to-ship transfers.

Reuters could not immediately determine whether the fuel oil cargo the Libya had been carrying was still aboard the ship.

(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh in SINGAPORE, Ahmed Rasheed in BAGHDAD and Ahmed Elumami in TRIPOLI; Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in LONDON and Parisa Hafezi in DUBAI; Editing by Henning Gloystein, Christian Schmollinger and Kenneth Maxwell)

Source: OANN

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Nancy Pelosi: Joe Biden is not ‘disqualified from being president’ by recent allegations of inappropriate touching

Recent allegations made against former Vice President Joe Biden do not disqualify him from being president, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi weighed in on the accusations of inappropriate behavior surrounding the ex-VP on Monday.

When asked if she believes the claims mean Biden cannot be president, Pelosi replied: “No. No, I do not.

“I don’t think that this disqualifies him from being president.

BIDEN ACCUSED BY SECOND WOMAN OF IMPROPER PHYSICAL CONTACT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., walks to a Democratic Caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Pelosi and leading House Democrats are unveiling broad legislation today to shore up the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., walks to a Democratic Caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Pelosi and leading House Democrats are unveiling broad legislation today to shore up the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Not at all.”

Pelosi’s comments came on the same day a second woman accused Biden of inappropriate touching, further complicating the prospective presidential candidate's political future and intensifying criticism over his previous public behavior with women.

Amy Lappos, 43, first told the Hartford Courant in an interview published Monday that Biden grabbed her during a $1,000-per-plate October 2009 fundraiser for Connecticut Democrat Rep. Jim Himes. Lappos, who initially posted about the episode on Facebook on Sunday, was working as an aide for Himes at the time.

“It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head," Lappos told the paper. “He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth.”

OTHER 2020 DEMS SAY THEY BELIEVE BIDEN ACCUSER LUCY FLORES

Biden with Stephanie Carter in February 2015 at the White House. (Alex Wong/Getty Images, File)

Biden with Stephanie Carter in February 2015 at the White House. (Alex Wong/Getty Images, File)

A Biden spokesman referred Fox News' requests for comment on the new allegation to Biden's earlier statements, in which Biden and his team strongly denied accusations the former vice president acted inappropriately around women. Still, they vowed to listen to any allegations or concerns.

Lappos, who provided Fox News with photos she said shows herself and Biden at the event, charged that the episode occurred inside the Greenwich home of an affordable housing developer, and that Himes was not present at the time.

Lappos' accusations came on the heels of a similar claim by former Nevada lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores, who accused Biden of inappropriate conduct during a 2014 campaign event. Flores alleged in an article Friday that Biden "plant[ed] a big slow kiss on the back of my head."

WIFE OF FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY DEFENDS BIDEN, SAYS PHOTO CIRCULATING ONLINE IS HIGHLY MISLEADING

In a statement to Fox News Monday afternoon, Lappos said she was speaking out "because I am so disappointed in my party, the Democratic Party, and the way we have treated Lucy Flores. ... Biden’s statement in response to Lucy’s article was not only disturbing it was disgusting. I stand my Lucy and any woman with the courage to come forward regarding men and the way they treat women."

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News’ Gregg Re, Andrew O'Reilly and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a bank in Geneva
FILE PHOTO: The Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a bank in Geneva, Switzerland, October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

April 26, 2019

ZURICH (Reuters) – Shareholders approved Credit Suisse’s 2018 compensation report with an 82 percent majority on Friday, overriding frustrations expressed at its annual general meeting over jumps in executive pay during a year its share price plummeted.

Three shareholder advisers had recommended investors vote against Switzerland’s second-biggest bank’s remuneration report, while a fourth backed the report but expressed reservations about whether management pay matched performance.

The approval marked a slight increase over the 80.8 percent support garnered for the bank’s 2017 compensation report.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Michael Shields)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London, Britain December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Simon Jessop and Sinead Cruise

LONDON (Reuters) – Activist investor Edward Bramson is likely to fail in his attempt to get a board seat at Barclays’ annual meeting next week, even though shareholders are dissatisfied with performance of the group’s investment bank.

New York-based Bramson’s Sherborne Investors and the board of the British bank have been sparring for months over Barclays’ strategy.

Bramson wants to scale back Barclays’ investment bank to reduce risk and boost shareholder returns. Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley remains staunchly committed to growing the business out of trouble.

After failing to persuade Staley to change course since he began building a 5.5 percent stake in the bank in March last year, Bramson hopes a board seat will rachet up the pressure.

Both sides have written to shareholders pitching their case and Bramson has courted investors in one-on-one meetings, although none have publicly backed him yet.

Interviews by Reuters with five institutional investors in Barclays suggest Bramson has failed to persuade them.

Sherborne declined to comment.

Mirza Baig, head of investment stewardship at top-40 shareholder Aviva Investors, said Bramson was welcome on the bank’s register but the boardroom was a step too far.

“He has created a lot of value at other businesses, but, generally, when he has come in as executive chair and taken full control. This would be a different case where he would just be one lone voice on the board,” he said.

A second Barclays shareholder said he backed Bramson’s goal of improving returns but via an “evolutionary” approach.

“If you look at banks that have tried to restructure their operations in investment banking – you look at Natwest Markets, Deutsche Bank – I struggle to think of an example where a roughshod restructuring has been accretive to shareholder value.”

A third, top-30 investor said he had been impressed by incoming Chairman Nigel Higgins’ grasp of the challenge in hand, and felt investors would give him time.

“Management know they have to execute and deliver improved returns… [Higgins] will continue to re-shape the board but obviously he didn’t feel that having someone with a diametrically opposed view on it would be helpful.”

A fourth, top-30 investor agreed: “We voted for the chairman to come in and it would be crazy to allow an activist to join the board (at this time).”

Jupiter Fund Management, the 24th largest investor, said it also planned to vote against Bramson.

Barclays has nearly 500 institutional shareholders, Refinitiv data showed.

Since Staley joined Barclays in 2015, the investment bank returns relative to capital invested have increased but are still underperforming the overall business.

Barclays’ first-quarter figures showed the investment bank posted a 6 percent drop in income from its markets business and a 17 percent fall in banking advisory fees.

Returns in the investment bank fell to 9.5 percent from 13.2 percent a year ago.

Famed for successful campaigns against smaller British companies in sectors from chemicals to advertising, Bramson’s board seat pitch has been rebuffed by shareholder advisory firms.

Institutional Shareholder Services, the world’s biggest, said Bramson’s proposal “falls short of what can reasonably be expected from a shareholder trying to address issues at a 28 billion pounds, systemically important bank”.

Glass Lewis also flagged concern about Bramson’s lack of banking experience and “questionable” shareholding structure, referring to Sherborne’s use of derivative contracts to hedge losses should its strategy fail.

Critics said the arrangement meant his interests are not truly aligned with those of other long-term shareholders.

British advisory firm Pirc, however, said it recommended that investors abstain in the vote on Bramson’s proposal as a challenge to the board to do better in the year ahead – or face a similar contest in 2020.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/04/918/516/02_2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

After an over 15-month pregnancy, “Akuti,” a 7-year-old Greater One Horned Indian Rhinoceros, gave birth as a result of induced ovulation and artificial insemination at Zoo Miami, April 23, 2019.

Ron Magill/Zoo Miami

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/04/918/516/02_2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: File photo of a Chevron gas station sign in Del Mar, California
FILE PHOTO: A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Del Mar, California, in this April 25, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – U.S. oil and natural gas producer Chevron Corp reported a 27 percent fall in quarterly earnings on Friday, hit by lower crude prices and weaker margins in its refining and chemicals businesses.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $2.65 billion, or $1.39 per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, from $3.64 billion, or $1.90 per share, a year earlier.

Earlier in the day, larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp reported earnings well below analysts’ estimates, as margins in its refining business were hurt by higher Canadian prices and heavy scheduled maintenance.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ford logo is seen at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan
FILE PHOTO: The Ford logo is seen at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said on Friday the U.S. Department of Justice had opened a criminal investigation into the automaker’s emissions certification process in the United States.

The potential concern does not involve the use of defeat devices, the company said in a regulatory filing. (https://bit.ly/2VqjHpl)

Ford had voluntarily disclosed the matter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board in February.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)

Source: OANN

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