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Reform the World Bank, IMF for changing world, Merkel says

German Chancellor Merkel attends a news conference following a meeting of the heads of international economy and finance organisations at the Chancellery in Berlin
FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a news conference following a meeting of the heads of international economy and finance organisations at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, April 10, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

March 28, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Thursday for reforms to the Washington-based international lending institutions that lie at the heart of the global financial system to adapt them to a rapidly changing world.

The World Bank needed a capital increase, she said, and the IMF a change to the quotas that allocate voting rights to members. Merkel has several times called in recent days for reforms to international organisations to accommodate the rapid rise of China.

“Things have to happen that we’ve been waiting for for years,” she said at a joint briefing she held with Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Michelle Martin)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Warning letter raises questions in Sri Lanka

The Latest on the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka (all times local):

Noon

A warning shared with Sri Lankan security agencies on April 11 said a local group was planning a suicide terror attack against churches in Sri Lanka.

Priyalal Disanayaka, the deputy inspector general of police, signed the letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies. He asked the four security directors to "pay extra attention" to the places and VIPs in their care.

The intelligence report attached to his letter called the group National Towheed Jamaar, said it was targeting "some important churches" in a suicide terrorist attack that was planned to take place "shortly." The report named six individuals likely to be involved in the plot.

On Monday, Sri Lanka's health minister held up a copy of the report while describing its contents, spurring questions about what Sri Lanka police had done to protect the public from an attack.

___

9 a.m.

As a state of emergency took effect Tuesday giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.

Sri Lanka's president gave the military a wider berth to detain and arrest suspects — powers that were used during the 26-year civil war but withdrawn when it ended in 2009.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the death toll from Sunday's attacks rose to 310.

President Maithripala Sirisena has declared a day of mourning for Tuesday, a day after officials disclosed that warnings had been received weeks ago of the possibility of an attack by the radical Muslim group blamed for the bloodshed.

Source: Fox News World

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New Mexico militia detains migrants at gunpoint until Border Patrol arrives: report

An armed right-wing militia group operating along the U.S.-Mexico border posted several videos to social media this week, including one in which they held about 200 asylum-seeking migrants at gunpoint near Sunland Park, N.M., until U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived, according to a report.

THOUSANDS MORE CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRANTS APPROACH U.S.-MEXICO BORDER

The militia group, which calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots, said it is determined to monitor the border until President Trump fulfills his campaign promise of a border wall or until Congress enacts stronger legislation to make it more difficult for migrants to request asylum, Jim Benvie, a spokesman, told The New York Times in a phone interview.

“It should go without saying that regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone,” the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said in a statement to The New York Times, adding that it is “completely unacceptable” that migrants be “menaced or threatened” upon entering the U.S.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that “the Trump administration’s vile racism” emboldened these groups.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Carlos A. Diaz, a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, would not divulge specific details about the scene in the video or about the United Constitutional Patriots, but said in a statement that Border Patrol “does not endorse private groups or organizations taking enforcement matters into their own hands.”

Source: Fox News National

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Dem rep brushes off Pelosi pushback, says he’ll pursue Trump impeachment

Outspoken Democratic Rep. Al Green is not letting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s newly announced opposition to impeachment proceedings hold him back.

Green, D-Texas, speaking with Fox News, said Tuesday that he still intends to bring articles of impeachment against President Trump to the House floor for a vote.

PELOSI SAYS SHE'S OPPOSED TO IMPEACHING TRUMP: 'HE'S JUST NOT WORTH IT'

“Each member of the House has the prerogative to bring impeachment to a vote. I intend to bring impeachment to a vote, and I will do so because the president has been acknowledged by leaders and others that he is not fit to hold the office,” Green said. “He’s causing harm to society and as such, he should be impeached.”

On the first day of the new Congress this year, Green and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., introduced articles of impeachment against the president. The pair also raised the issue in 2017 and 2018, to no avail.

“This is not about any individual. It’s about liberty and justice for all. It’s about maintaining our democracy. It’s not about Democrats, it’s about keeping the republic, and frankly, not about Republicans,” Green said Tuesday. “It’s about our country. I love my country.”

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 15: Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Texas. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 15: Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Texas. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Green’s comments follow Pelosi making her most-public attempt yet to tamp down impeachment chatter.

“I’m not for impeachment,” Pelosi told The Washington Post Magazine in an interview published Monday. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.”

She added: “And he’s just not worth it.”

Trump’s attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that Pelosi was “being realistic as to the political reaction” of impeachment.

“Maybe she doesn’t see any real evidence of anything wrongful,” Giuliani told Fox News on Tuesday.

TLAIB SAYS SHE'LL INTRODUCE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP THIS MONTH

Meanwhile, senior Democrats appeared to get in line with Pelosi on the issue -- for the time being.

“We need to have as much information as possible … the American people are going to have to decide,” House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday. “While we have impeachment authority, we have to be very cognizant of what the American people need.”

“The distraction would be major,” Hoyer said.

Even House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is leading one of several Trump-focused investigations on Capitol Hill, sided with Pelosi, calling her “absolutely right” to hold back on impeachment proceedings.

“A bipartisan process would have to be extra clear and compelling,” Schiff told reporters. “I think the speaker is absolutely right. In its absence, an impeachment [process]  becomes a partisan exercise doomed for failure. And I see little to be gained by putting the country through that kind of wrenching experience.”

But freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who has repeatedly advocated impeachment, suggested she'd continue to speak her mind on the issue.

“Speaker Pelosi has always encouraged me to represent my district, never has told me to stop,” she told reporters. “Has never told me to do anything differently. Ever.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Jared Halpern, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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MLB notebook: Ichiro retires after 27-year pro career

MLB: Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics
Mar 21, 2019; Tokyo,JPN; Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (51) speaks during a press conference after the game against the Oakland Athletics at Tokyo Dome. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

March 22, 2019

Ichiro Suzuki announced his retirement Thursday after his final game with the Seattle Mariners, played in the country where he started his 27-year career.

“I have achieved so many of my dreams in baseball,” Ichiro said, “both in my career in Japan and, since 2001, in Major League Baseball. I am honored to end my big-league career where it started, with Seattle, and think it is fitting that my last games as a professional were played in my home country of Japan.”

Ichiro, 45, joined the Mariners in 2001 at age 27 and won both American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. He had 1,278 career hits in Japanese baseball and 3,089 in the major leagues.

Ichiro nearly legged out an infield hit in the eighth inning after a strikeout earlier in the game. He was removed from the game later in the inning to a thunderous applause from fans and hugs from his teammates. Ichiro was hitless, but Seattle claimed a 5-4, 12-inning victory over the Oakland A’s in the Tokyo Dome.

–The Los Angeles Angels and two-time MVP Mike Trout announced the 12-year contract that likely will keep the outfielder an Angel for the rest of his career.

“This is where I wanted to be all along,” Trout said in a statement released by the. “I have enjoyed my time as an Angel and look forward to representing the organization, my teammates and our fans for years to come.”

The new contract adds 10 years to the final two years of his existing six-year deal signed in 2014. The total 12-year deal is worth anywhere from $426.5 million to more than $430 million.

–Less than two weeks after drawing criticism for giving reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell a $15,500 raise, the Tampa Bay Rays announced they are giving their ace quite a bit more, after all.

The club agreed to terms with the left-hander on a five-year, $50 million contract that runs through the 2023 season, which would have been Snell’s first year of free agency. The deal could pay an additional $2 million in incentives, the club said.

–The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the St. Louis Cardinals and newly acquired first baseman Paul Goldschmidt are closing in on an extension that will be “at least five years and at least $110 million.” Later, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that both sides agreed to a deal and the terms are five years and “about $130 million.”

Goldschmidt slugged 30 or more homers in four of the past six seasons with Arizona, but the Diamondbacks dealt the 31-year-old ahead of the last season of his contract, which is slated to pay him $14.5 million. He batted .290 with 33 homers and 83 RBIs in 2018. He has three 100-RBI campaigns and has batted .300 or better three times since 2013.

–Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters there is “reason for concern” about the pitching elbow of right-handed reliever Corey Knebel.

Knebel, 27, stopped throwing in the past few days due to what had been described as a tired arm and was scheduled to have it examined. Knebel and reliever Jeremy Jeffress (shoulder) are expected to open the year on the injured list, likely leaving closer duties to Josh Hader.

The Brewers reportedly have been in talks with free agent closer Craig Kimbrel.

–Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson could miss time with a hand injury sustained in the finale of a two-game series in Japan against the Mariners.

Olson left the game after fouling a ball off of his right hand.

The A’s also announced top prospect Jesus Luzardo would be shut down for four to six weeks with a shoulder strain.

–New York Yankees first baseman Greg Bird was scratched from the team’s spring training game because of swelling and stiffness in his right elbow, manager Aaron Boone said.

Bird, who was hit by a pitch Wednesday by the Houston Astros’ Wade Miley, was sent back to Tampa, Fla., for precautionary X-rays while the team played the St. Louis Cardinals in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Bird, 26, has been competing with Luke Voit for the starting job at first base this spring. He is hitting .333 with 11 walks and three home runs in 51 plate appearances in the Grapefruit League.

–Lee Mazzilli, the Yankees’ guest instructor who was struck on the head by a batted ball during batting practice Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., will stay hospitalized for at least another night. A Yankees spokesman said Thursday that doctors were “just being cautious” with Mazzilli.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Trump to meet Democrats on infrastructure on April 30: sources

FILE PHOTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

April 23, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will meet with President Donald Trump on April 30 at the White House over the fate of proposals to boost U.S. infrastructure repairs by at least $1 trillion, according to a congressional aide and an administration official.

Pelosi said in New York on Tuesday the meeting will happen next week. Trump, who vowed in 2016 as a candidate to back $1 trillion of infrastructure spending over 10 years, has been vague about his plans in recent months. “Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure,” Trump said in February during his State of the Union address.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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2 officers shot outside Atlanta as police deal with gunman

Two police officers were in serious condition after being wounded by gunfire in a neighborhood outside Atlanta, where a gunman remained barricaded inside a home, authorities said.

The two injured Henry County officers were being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta Thursday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Denise Simpson said. Both were in serious condition, Henry County police said in a statement.

Police said they were called to a neighborhood in Stockbridge about 10:45 a.m. Thursday on a "trouble unknown" call.

By Thursday afternoon, a barricaded gunman inside a home was keeping officers at bay, police said. Residents were asked to stay clear of the area as officers dealt with what police described as "a very fluid situation."

Other details of the shooting weren't immediately released, and it wasn't known how the officers came under fire.

One of the wounded officers was flown by helicopter to the hospital in Atlanta, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Stockbridge. Georgia's state transportation department helped clear the northbound lanes of Interstate 75 as the other injured officer was driven to Grady.

Henry County has endured multiple shootings of police officers in the past two years.

In December, Henry County police Officer Michael Smith was shot at a dentist's office and died of his wounds about three weeks later. Employees at the dentist's office had called police about a man who had been acting erratically, and Smith was shot as he confronted the man.

In February 2018, Locust Grove police Officer Chase Maddox, 26, was shot in the head and killed in the Henry County town he patrolled. Two Henry County sheriff's deputies were also wounded in that shooting as the three law officers tried to serve an arrest warrant at a home.

Source: Fox News National

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba
Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique April 26, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media. SolidarMed via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

JOHANNESBURG/LUANDA (Reuters) – Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.

The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1,000 people across a swathe of southern Africa.

The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600 millimeters of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice that brought by Cyclone Idai.

One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.

In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90 percent of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15,000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.

There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia district, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo.

A local group, the Friends of Pemba Association, had earlier reported that they could not reach people in Muidumbe, a district further inland.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned the storm could require another major humanitarian operation in Mozambique.

“Cyclone Kenneth marks the first time two cyclones have made landfall in Mozambique during the same season, further stressing the government’s limited resources,” he said in a statement.

FLOOD WARNINGS

Shaquila Alberto, owner of the beach-front Messano Flower Lodge in Macomia, said there were many fallen trees there, and in rural areas people’s homes had been damaged. Some areas of nearby Pemba had no power.

“Even my workers, they said the roof and all the things fell down,” she said by phone.

Further south, in Pemba, Elton Ernesto, a receptionist at Raphael’s Hotel, said there were fallen trees but not too much damage. The hotel had power and water, he said, while phones rang in the background. “The rain has stopped,” he added.

However Michael Charles, an official for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said heavy rains over the next few days were likely to bring a “second wave of destruction” in the form of flooding.

“The houses are not all solid, and the topography is very sandy,” Charles said.

In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.

Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alexandra Zavis)

Source: OANN

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A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Surging global oil prices will pose a first big challenge to India’s new government, whoever wins an election now under way, especially as domestic prices have been allowed to lag, meaning consumers are in for a painful surge as they catch up.

For oil-import dependent India, higher global prices could lead to a weaker rupee, higher inflation, the ruling out of interest rate cuts and could further weigh on twin current account and budget deficits, economists warned.

But compounding the future pain, state-run fuel suppliers and retailers have held off passing on to consumers the higher prices during a staggered general election, which began on April 11 and ends on May 23, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That delay is expected to be unwound once the election is over. And there could be additional price increases to make up for losses or profits missed during the period of delayed increases, the sources said.

In some major Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, pump prices are adjusted periodically so they move largely in tandem with international crude prices.

That was what was supposed to happen in India but the election means there have been many days when pump prices have been unchanged.

In New Delhi, for example, while crude oil prices have gone up by nearly $9 a barrel, or about 12 percent, in the past six weeks, gasoline prices have only risen by 0.47 rupees a liter, or 0.6 percent.

State-controlled fuel suppliers and retailers declined to say why they had delayed price increases, or discuss whether there has been any pressure from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A government spokesman declined to comment.

The opposition Congress party said Modi’s government was violating its own policy of daily price revision by advising the state oil companies to hold prices steady.

“The government should cut fuel taxes otherwise consumers will have to pay much higher oil prices once the elections are over,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior leader of the Congress party.

(GRAPHIC: India Polls: Fuel price hike lags crude surge – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XLlxik)

Nitin Goyal, treasurer at the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, representing fuel stations in 25 states, said prices were similarly held down for 19 days in the southern state of Karnataka last year, when it held state assembly elections.

Only for them to surge after the vote.

“Consumers should be ready for a rude shock of a massive jump in retail prices, similar to the level we have seen in the Karnataka state election,” Goyal said.

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at Singapore-based consultancy FGE, said retail prices of gasoline and gasoil prices would have been up to 6 percent, or about 4 rupee, higher if they had been allowed to rise in line with global prices.

“Indian pump prices have failed to keep up with the recent uptrend in crude prices,” Paravaikkarasu said.

“With the country’s general elections underway, the incumbent government has been keeping pump prices relatively unchanged.”

India had switched to a daily price revision in June 2017 from a revision every two weeks, as the government allowed retailers to set prices.

But the government faced protests last October when retailers raised prices by up to 10 rupees a liter after the crude oil price went above $80 a barrel, forcing it to cut fuel taxes.

Global prices rose to their highest level in 2019 on Thursday, days after the United States announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers including India to stop buying Tehran’s oil. [O/R]

Higher oil prices will mean Asia’s third largest economy is likely to see growth of less than 7 percent rate this fiscal year, economists said. Growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the October-December quarter, the slowest in five quarters.

Rating agency CARE has warned that a 10 percent rise in global oil prices could increase demand for dollars, putting pressure on the rupee and widening the current account deficit.

India’s oil import bill rose by nearly one-third in the fiscal year ending March 31 to $140.5 billion, against $108 billion the previous year.

“The increase in international oil prices is a credit negative for the Indian economy,” ICRA, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said in a note.

“Every $10/ bbl increase in crude oil prices increases the fiscal deficit by about 0.1 percent of GDP.”

Any big price rise would also build a case for the central bank to keep rates steady, or even raise them.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which cut the benchmark policy repo rate by 25 basis points this month, warned that rising oil and food prices could push up inflation.

Policymakers are worried that a sustained increase in the oil price in the range of $70-75/barrel or higher can move the rupee down by 3-4 percent on an annual basis.

The rupee has depreciated by 1.24 percent against the dollar since a year high in mid-March.

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Rob Birsel)

Source: OANN

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