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Georgia man charged with murder after fatally shooting 19-year-old who knocked on the wrong apartment door

A Georgia man was arrested Friday after police say he fatally shot a 19-year-old man who accidentally knocked on the wrong apartment door.

The shooting victim, Omarian Banks, was dropped off at the Retreat apartment complex in Atlanta around 12:30 a.m. on Friday.

According to police, Banks and his girlfriend recently moved into the building and Banks, still unfamiliar with the area, knocked on what he thought was his apartment door.

PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE SENTENCES WOMAN TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER OF ADOPTIVE DAUGHTER: ‘EVIL ATTRACTS EVIL’

Banks had reportedly made an error, approaching the door of 32-year-old Darryl Bynes instead. According to the police account, the pair had a short conversation before Bynes went inside, grabbed his gun and shot Banks as he tried to get away, WSB-TV reported.

Police said that Bynes first claimed self-defense but evidence suggests the victim was shot from Bynes’ balcony as he tried to get away, WSB-TV reported.

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Bynes was arrested and booked at the Fulton County Jail, where he is facing murder charges, inmate records indicated.

He had been arrested three previous times, according to jail records.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Judge blocks Trump’s small-business health insurance plan

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has struck down a small-business health insurance plan widely touted by President Donald Trump, the second setback in a week for the administration's health care initiatives.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates wrote in his opinion late Thursday that so-called "association health plans" were "clearly an end-run" around consumer protections required by the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.

On Wednesday, another federal judge blocked the Trump administration's Medicaid work requirements for low-income people.

The plans at issue in Bates' ruling Thursday allow groups of small businesses and sole proprietors to band together to offer lower-cost coverage that doesn't have to include all the benefits required by the ACA, often called "Obamacare." They also can be offered across state lines, an attempt to deliver on a major Trump campaign promise.

Trump, a Republican, has eagerly talked up the plans, saying they're doing record business by offering "tremendous health care at very small cost." But the Labor Department regulation authorizing them only took effect last summer, and they don't seem to have made a major impact on the market. Initial estimates said 3 million to 4 million people eventually would enroll, compared with more than 160 million Americans covered by current employer plans.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who joined other Democratic state officials in suing the Trump administration, said the judge "saw past the Trump administration's transparent effort to sabotage our health care system and gut these critical consumer protections in the service of its own partisan agenda."

Many state officials see federal insurance regulation of small-business plans as infringing on their own traditional authority.

The Trump administration, unable to repeal "Obamacare" in Congress, has tried to use its rule-making powers to open up a pathway for alternatives. In the case of small-business plans, the administration's regulation granted them similar flexibility on benefits as enjoyed by big companies. Most large employer plans are not subject to state regulations, and the Obama law did not make major changes to them either.

But Bates wrote that treating small businesses and sole proprietors similarly to major employers "creates absurd results."

Bates was nominated to the federal bench by then-President George W. Bush, a Republican. His ruling seems to signal limits to how far the Trump administration can advance with its strategy of relying on regulations to transform health care.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Trump administration would respond, but officials have said they will keep moving ahead with the president's agenda.

Trump has made a sharp turn back to health care this week, with the administration joining the side of Texas and other GOP-led states seeking to completely overturn "Obamacare" as unconstitutional. At the same time, Trump has been promising a new health care plan that would be much better than "Obamacare," tweeting that Republicans will become "the Party of Great HealthCare!"

But there's no indication that the White House, executive branch agencies like Health and Human Services or Republicans in Congress are working on a comprehensive plan. Many congressional Republicans see the Texas lawsuit as a political land mine. If "Obamacare" is overturned Republicans would be on the hook in the 2020 election year to come up with an alternative.

The GOP turmoil over health care has come as a boon to Democrats, who are looking to change the subject from special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusion that the Trump campaign did not conspire with the Russian government to sway the 2016 election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week joined in unveiling legislation that would shore up and expand the ACA, allowing many more middle-class households to qualify for assistance paying their premiums.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Escalating U.S.-China trade war would hit manufacturing, agricultural jobs: IMF

FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a logo of IMF at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua
FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a logo of IMF at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo/File Photo

April 3, 2019

By Chris Prentice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An escalation of the U.S.-China trade war would drive manufacturing away from both countries and likely cause job losses, but would not change their total trade balances, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report showed on Wednesday.

The United States and China would see “sizable” losses in manufacturing as capacity moves toward Mexico, Canada, and East Asia if tariffs were hiked to 25 percent on all goods flowing between the two countries, the IMF said in its April World Economic Outlook.

That would escalate a tit-for-tat tariff battle between the two economic giants that has gripped global financial markets since mid-2018. The United States already has tariffs of 25 percent on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods and levies of 10 percent on another $200 billion. China has retaliated with duties on U.S. products, including key agricultural crops.

The countries have been trying to negotiate a deal to end the spat. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are due to resume talks with Chinese vice premier, Liu He, on Wednesday, just days after the two sides reported progress in talks last week in Beijing.

The electronics and other manufacturing sectors in China would be hard-hit and the U.S. agricultural sector would see a significant contraction if the trade war were to escalate, the IMF report showed.

The group forecast a scenario where “large sectors in both countries shed a significant number of jobs.”

That would translate to about 1 percent of the workforce in the U.S. agricultural and transportation equipment sectors, and 5 percent in Chinese manufacturing other than electronics, like furniture and jewelry.

Growth in both economies would lose steam. On Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said U.S. gross domestic product would fall by up to 0.6 percent and China’s would fall by up to 1.5 percent.

Any attempts to address a trade deficit or surplus with another country through tariffs would shift the trade balances with other countries, making no impact on a country’s aggregate balance, the IMF said.

For example, U.S. imports of electronics and machinery from China would drop to 11.5 percent after the tariffs from about 22.1 percent of total imports, while the proportion of imports from other countries would rise.

The share of imports from East Asian nations would climb to 17.7 percent from 15.6 percent, Mexico’s share would rise to 14.6 percent from 12.6 percent, and Canada’s would increase to 12.3 percent from 10.8 percent, according to the report.

Even though some countries would benefit from the new trade flows, most countries are “likely to be worse off” because of increasing macroeconomic uncertainty, the IMF said.

(Reporting by Chris Prentice in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Turkish lira down as U.S. halts fighter parts delivery, threatens sanctions

FILE PHOTO: Turkish Lira banknotes are seen in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Lira banknotes are seen in this October 10, 2017 picture illustration. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/Illustration/File Photo

April 2, 2019

By Sarah Dadouch

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The lira dropped nearly 3 percent on Tuesday after the United States halted delivery of equipment related to a Turkish order of F-35 fighter planes, warning Ankara’s insistence on buying Russian defense systems risked triggering sanctions.

At 1634 GMT, the lira stood at 5.6590 against the dollar, having earlier fallen 3.3 percent to as low as 5.6800.

The Turkish currency lost nearly 30 percent against the dollar last year in a sell-off sparked by concerns over the independence of the central bank and exacerbated by worsening ties with Washington.

“Factors behind last year’s currency crisis have reared their heads again,” said Jason Tuvey, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.

Washington and other NATO allies are concerned that radar on the Russian S-400 missile system that Turkey is also buying will learn how to track the F-35, making it less able to evade Russian weapons.

A senior U.S. official said the purchase of the S-400 risked triggering sanctions.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said later on Tuesday he expected to resolve the dispute, but his comments had little impact on the lira.

The row marks the latest in a series of bilateral disputes, notably over Turkish demands that the United States extradite Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, differences over Middle East policy and the war in Syria, and sanctions on Iran.

STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS

The lira has also been under pressure from domestic political developments.

Currency volatility in the run-up to local elections on Sunday led the central bank to suspend one-week repo auctions, a move seen by analysts as a “back door” tightening that reignited worries that the central bank was under pressure from politicians to lower its policy rate.

The lira lost as much as 2.5 percent against the dollar on Monday after results showed President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party on track to lose control of both Ankara and Istanbul, his popularity hit by the recession that the lira’s losses in large part triggered.

The AKP submitted objections to the results in all districts of both cities, party officials said on Tuesday.

“The lira is under pressure as now the focus is back on structural problems for the Turkish economy,” said Nikolay Markov, a senior economist at Pictet Asset Management.

A widening current account deficit could deepen the recession through a further lira depreciation, leading to higher inflation and borrowing costs, Markov said.

“The central bank should raise policy rates but that won’t happen because of pressure from the government,” although AKP electoral losses could reduce that pressure, he said.

(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Sarah Dadouch; Additional Reporting by Tom Arnold in London; Editing by Dominic Evans and John Stonestreet)

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Macron’s party rules out joining EU centrist group after Le Pen accusations

FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron watches as German Chancellor Angela Merkel departs after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris
FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron watches as German Chancellor Angela Merkel departs after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

March 12, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron’s party will not join the pan-European ALDE group, his EU election campaign chief said on Tuesday, after it emerged the centrist alliance had received funding from the Bayer-Monsanto agriculture and chemicals conglomerate.

ALDE is the fourth-biggest party in the European Parliament and has courted Macron, whose Republic on the Move party has no lawmakers in the European Parliament as it was created after the last EU parliament election.

But far-right leader Marine Le Pen revealed last week that ALDE had received funds from U.S. seed maker Monsanto, now part of German chemicals group Bayer.

Monsanto is a frequent target of criticism in France from green activists and others over concerns about genetically modified crops and week killers such as glyphosates it has developed.

“None of our European lawmakers will sit in the next legislature within a political group or European political movement which tolerates such financing,” Stephane Sejourne, Macron’s EU election campaign chief, said in a statement.

In reaction to Sejourne’s statement, ALDE said it would end the sponsorship of congresses by private companies.

“The participation of the private sector were used to finance part of our congresses in order to give more people the possibility to participate,” ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, this has been interpreted as practices that could have been perceived as active political influence.”

Bayer confirmed it had been a sponsor for ALDE congresses for several years.

“It is a widespread and widely accepted practice which isn’t specifically linked to Bayer or ALDE,” a spokeswoman said.

It listed Bayer as a donor for 12,000 euros in an audit for 2017 published on its website.

Under EU law, European political parties may accept donations from people or corporations of up to 18,000 euros per year and per donor.

As the election race heats up, Macron has been cool to the idea of joining the ALDE alliance, aiming instead to create his own centrist coalition on the European stage in which he would call the shots.

Le Pen, who is nipping at the heels of Macron’s party in voter intention surveys, told RTL radio last Thursday: “Lobbies fund European political parties and they fund ALDE, Emmanuel Macron’s party at the European parliament.”

(Reporting by Michel Rose; additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Ohio church apologizes after shocking video shows youth pastor asking kids to cut him in Easter lesson

A church in Pataskala, Ohio apologized after a disturbing video surfaced showing a youth pastor asking kids to spit on him, slap him, and then cut him with a steak knife in an Easter message gone wrong.

"The illustration went too far," Justin Ross, the lead pastor of Impact City Church, explained in a video on Facebook, "and it was inappropriate for the audience that we had, that was students."

THESE EASTER EGGS SHOW KIDS THE 'TRUE MEANING' OF THE HOLIDAY

Part-time youth pastor Jaddeaus Dempsey says he was trying to illustrate what happened to Jesus leading up to the crucifixion, so he asked the students to spit on him and they lined up and did so. Then to slap him, as several students expressed that it was "enough," but then he picked up a knife and asked them to cut him.

"Are you serious?" a student asked, as screams are heard in the background. Dempsey responded: "I'm very serious."

One kid, holding the knife, says, "I cannot do this," and hands the knife to another student.

CALIFORNIA EDUCATOR WARNS OF 'FAR-LEFT' AGENDA BEING PUSHED ON KIDS IN CLASSROOMS

The next student brought the knife to his back as "light" as he could.

Dempsey told him to bring blood so the student tried again, saying he could see blood. Then the video stops.

Many students were taking videos and posting them on social media. One of them was posted by Lola Hatfield, who called it "disturbing."

WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO CONTENT

Mandy, one of the parents whose kid was handed a knife, told 10 WBNS she was "appalled."

"I was disturbed," she said. "It was disturbing."

AMERICAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY GUNNED DOWN IN PARAGUAY

Mandy and her husband Josh rushed to pick up their son from the church and noticed he was upset and thought he was in trouble.

Josh told him he wasn't upset with him but "the things that happened here wasn't okay."

YOUNG BOY CREDITS THIS CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S SHOW WITH SAVING HIM FROM SUICIDE

The lead pastor agreed, in a video apology, that the reactions to the incident were appropriate.

"Many of you were disgusted. Many of you were hurt by this. Many of you were very confused on why this would be taking place at a church and a youth event, and we agree," Ross said. "It was inappropriate for this audience and there's really no excuse for why it happened."

BOY WHO INSPIRED FAITH SURVIVAL STORY 'BREAKTHROUGH' SAYS 'GOD STILL DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE'

But he said the intent behind it, which was not seen on social media, is important to clear up.

"After Jaddeaus allowed them to spit on him, slap him, and cut him, he sat them down and explained to them about this guy named Jesus, who thousands of years ago, he was put on trial for a crime that he didn't commit, and he was beaten, he was broken, he was whipped, he was crucified, and he died as an innocent man."

The pastor explained that Jesus could've stopped it at any point but "chose to take the debt we call sin."

Jesus did it out of love, the pastor explained, adding that the youth pastor was trying to "share" in Jesus' pain.

MILLENNIALS CREATE BIBLE FOR THE INSTAGRAM GENERATION

Dempsey said some students felt bad and he told them it was completely his idea.

"It was completely my idea. Not Justin, not any of the other leaders, including my own wife, knew the illustration that I was about to perform," Dempsey said. "I crossed the line, and it was over the top and it was just not appropriate. It was in bad judgment. I'm so sorry for misrepresenting the community, the church, the parents, the students, anybody that I hurt. It was not my intention."

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The goal was to show the students how much Jesus loved them, the youth pastor explained.

"In no way do we condone that students or anyone else should spit on someone, should slap them, or use a weapon to harm anyone or harm themselves," Ross said, "and we have a lot to evaluate to ensure that a situation like this doesn't happen again."

Source: Fox News National

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EU watchdog closes probe into regulators over Danske Bank

FILE PHOTO: General view of the Danske Bank building in Copenhagen
FILE PHOTO: General view of the Danske Bank building in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen/File Photo

April 17, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Banking Authority has closed its probe into Danish and Estonian regulators in relation to a money-laundering scandal at Danske Bank, saying its board rejected a proposal to find the watchdogs in breach of European Union law.

“At a vote at its meeting on 16 April 2019 the EBA’s Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal for a breach of Union law recommendation,” the EBA said in a statement.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Rachel Armstrong)

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Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London
Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London, Britain, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Gerhard Mey

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rockers The Cranberries are saying goodbye with their final album released on Friday, a poignant tribute to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan who died last year.

“In the End” is the eighth studio album from the band that rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits likes “Zombie” and “Linger”, and includes the final recordings by O’Riordan, who drowned in a London hotel bath in January 2018 due to alcohol intoxication.

Work on the album began during a 2017 tour and by that winter, O’Riordan and guitarist Neil Hogan had penned and demoed 11 tracks.

With O’Riordan’s vocals recorded, Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler completed the album in tribute to her.

“When we realized how strong the songs were, that was the deciding factor really… There was no point… trying to ruin the legacy of the band,” Noel Hogan said in an interview.

“It was obvious that Dolores wanted this album done because when you hear the album, you hear the songs and how strong they are, and she was very, very excited to get in and record this.”

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989 with another singer. O’Riordan replaced him a year later and the group went on to become Ireland’s best-selling rock band after U2, selling more than 40 million records.

O’Riordan, known for her strong distinctive voice singing about relationships or political violence, was 46 when she died.

“She was actually in quite a good place mentally. She was feeling quite content and strong and looking forward to a new phase of her life,” Lawler said.

“A lot of the lyrics in this album are about things ending… people might read into it differently but it was a phase of her personal life that she was talking about.”

The group previously announced their intention to split after the release of “In The End”.

“We are absolutely gutted we can’t play (the songs) live because that’s something that’s been a massive part of this band from day one,” Noel Hogan said.

“A few people have said to us about maybe even doing a one off where you have different vocalists… as kind of guests of ours. A year ago that’s definitely something we weren’t going to entertain but I don’t know, I think it’s something we need to go away and take time off for the summer and have a think about.”

Critics have generally given positive reviews of the album; NME described it as “(seeing) the band’s career go full-circle” while the Irish Times called it “an unexpected late career high and a remarkable swan song for O’Riordan”.

Their early songs still play on the radio. This week, “Dreams” was performed at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in Londonderry last week as she watched Irish nationalist youths attack police following a raid.

“We wrote them as kids, as a hobby and 30 years later they are on radio and on TV, like all the time… That’s far more than any of us ever thought we would have,” Noel Hogan said.

“That would make Dolores really happy because she was very precious about those songs. Her babies, she called them and to have that hopefully long after we’re gone… that’s all any band can wish for.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additoinal reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.

The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.

(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)

(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)

The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.

The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.

“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.

The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.

Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.

In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.

Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

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FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – Deloitte quit as Ferrexpo’s auditor on Friday, knocking its shares by more than 20 percent, days after saying it was unable to conclude whether the iron ore miner’s CEO controlled a charity being investigated over its use of company donations.

Blooming Land, which coordinates Ferrexpo’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, came under scrutiny after auditors found holes in the charity’s statements.

Ferrexpo on Tuesday said findings of an ongoing independent investigation launched in February indicated some Blooming Land funds could have been “misappropriated”. It did not provide any details or publish its findings.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry, were 23.4 percent lower at 206.1 pence at 1022 GMT following news of Deloitte’s resignation.

“Ferrexpo’s shares are deeply discounted vs peers … following the resignation of Deloitte, we expect downside risks to dominate Ferrexpo’s shares near term.” JP Morgan analyst Dominic O’Kane said in a note on Friday.

Swiss-headquartered Ferrexpo did not provide a reason for the resignation of Deloitte, which declined to comment, while Blooming Land did not respond to a request for comment.

Funding for Blooming Land’s CSR activities is provided by one of Ferrexpo’s units in Ukraine and Khimreaktiv LLC, an entity ultimately controlled by Ferrexpo’s CEO and majority owner Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo said on Tuesday.

Ferrexpo’s board has found that Zhevago did not have significant influence or control over the charity, but Deloitte said it was unable reach a conclusion on this.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

In a qualified opinion, a statement addressing an incomplete audit, Deloitte said it had been unable to conclude whether $33.5 million of CSR donations to Blooming Land between 2017 and 2018 was used for “legitimate business payments for charitable purposes”.

Deloitte said on Tuesday that total CSR payments made to Blooming Land by Ferrexpo since 2013 total about $110 million.

Ferrexpo, whose major mines are in Ukraine, has said that the investigation was ongoing and new evidence pointed to potential discrepancies.

Zhevago, 45, who ranked 1,511 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires for 2019 with a net worth of $1.4 billion, owns the FC Vorskla soccer club and has been a member of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Bernard Orr)

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

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FLOOD WARNINGS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A government spokesman declined to comment.

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

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

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

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

Only for them to surge after the vote.

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

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

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

Source: OANN

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