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Yen near this year’s lows as risk appetite improves

Japanese 10,000 yen notes line up in Tokyo, in this picture illustration
Japanese 10,000 yen notes line up in Tokyo, in this February 28, 2013 picture illustration. REUTERS/Shohei Miyano/File Photo

April 15, 2019

By Hideyuki Sano

TOKYO (Reuters) – The yen hovered near its lowest level this year on Monday as more signs of stabilization in the Chinese economy and an upbeat start to the U.S. earnings season prompted investors to abandon the safe-haven currency to seek higher returns elsewhere.

The dollar firmed to 112.02 yen, near Friday’s high of 112.10, which was near its year-to-date high of 112.135 touched in early March.

The safe-haven Swiss franc has also eased against the euro, which strengthened to 1.1329 franc, recovering its losses made late last month to hit a three-week high on the franc.

The common currency traded at $1.1304, keeping intact its slow recovery from $1.1183 touched on April 2. It rose to as high as $1.1324 on Friday.

Chinese data published on Friday showed exports rebounded sharply and new bank loans increased far more than expected in March.

Although China’s imports remained weak, the data on the whole cemented hopes that the Chinese economy is bottoming out after a soft patch as Beijing has curbed de-leveraging efforts and stepped up support for the economy in recent months.

U.S. stocks also rallied on Friday on strong earnings from JPMorgan and an 11.5-percent jump in Walt Disney Co on news that it will start streaming services.

The S&P 500 index has reached its highest level in six months, coming within sight of testing a record high marked in September last year.

The more positive mood helped offset any concerns about upcoming trade talks between the United States and Japan, in which Washington is expected to include a currency provision in a bilateral trade agreement.

“We are seeing a classical risk-on market,” said Minori Uchida, chief currency analyst at MUFG Bank.

But Uchida also believes the dollar’s upside may be limited, given that speculators have already built up large long positions in the U.S. currency.

Data from U.S. watchdog on Friday showed speculators bolstered their net long U.S. dollar position in the latest week, pushing it to the highest since December 2015.

Against the yen, their net dollar long position was at the highest in about three months.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar stood at $0.7173, having hit a 1-1/2-month high of $0.71925.

The British pound fetched $1.3080, stuck in its recent trading range as fears of a no-deal Brexit have receded for now.

(Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh)

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Dollar holds gains as risk appetite recovery arrests yield decline

FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollars and other world currencies lie in a charity receptacle at Pearson international airport in Toronto
FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollars and other world currencies lie in a charity receptacle at Pearson international airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 13, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

March 27, 2019

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar held modest gains on Wednesday as a recovery in investor risk appetite arrested a decline in benchmark U.S. Treasury yields, which fell to 15-month lows this week.

The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies was steady at 96.765 after edging up nearly 0.2 percent overnight.

The greenback advanced on Tuesday after 10-year Treasury debt yields rebounded due to stock gains on Wall Street.

An inversion of the U.S. yield curve, which has preceded every U.S. recession over the past 50 years, chilled risk sentiment and triggered a sharp stock selloff last week.

Yields for safe-haven bonds also declined, pressuring the dollar.

“Bids for the dollar are returning with Treasury yields off their lows, and also because negative views toward the European economy have done no favors for their currency,” said Shin Kadota, senior strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.

The euro was a shade higher at $1.1274 after shedding 0.4 percent the previous day. The currency has been on shaky ground after Friday’s weaker-than-expected German manufacturing survey raised concerns about Europe’s largest economy.

The dollar slipped 0.15 percent to 110.475 yen, losing some steam after surging 0.6 percent against its Japanese peer on Tuesday.

The pound nudged up 0.1 percent to $1.3215.

Sterling has drawn mild support after two eurosceptic British lawmakers indicated on Tuesday that they might agree to support Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU withdrawal deal rather than risk parliament cancelling Brexit. [GBP/]

The Australian dollar, sensitive to shifts in risk sentiment, stood little changed at $0.7135 after gaining 0.3 percent the previous day.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield was a touch higher at 2.417 percent. The yield had fallen on Monday to 2.377 percent, its lowest since December 2017.

(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Jailed Catalan leaders ease position on post-election coalition talks

Spain's Socialist leader and current PM Pedro Sanchez delivers his speech during a PSOE party meeting before he kicks off his political campaign ahead of the April 28 general election in Dos Hermanas
Spain's Socialist leader and current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers his speech during a PSOE party meeting before he kicks off his political campaign ahead of the April 28 general election in Dos Hermanas, near Seville, Spain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

April 13, 2019

BARCELONA (Reuters) – Four Catalan leaders on trial over a 2017 bid to split their region from Spain have said separatists should be more flexible about entering negotiations on forming the next Madrid government after a April 28 national election.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is forecast to win the most seats in the vote, but could need Catalan separatists’ backing to form a government. A unionist, rightist coalition winning a majority is another possible scenario.

The Catalan leaders’ call, made in a letter in Saturday’s edition of La Vanguardia newspaper, said separatists should enter talks with potential coalition partners as long as they refused to rule out an independence referendum as a “possible solution” for the region.

That marked a softening of their previous stance and raises the possibility of compromise on an issue that has vexed past coalition talks.

“If it depends on us, we won’t look the other way when it is time to form a stable government, provided the candidate commits to dialogue and doesn’t rule out an independence referendum as one possible solution,” the leaders’ letter said.

They had said previously that holding an independence referendum for the region would be a non-negotiable condition for entering discussions to form a national government. Madrid has categorically ruled out holding such a referendum.

While rejecting an independence ballot, Sanchez has taken a more conciliatory tone toward the restive region since coming to power last year.

He called a snap election in February after failing to win the support he needed from Catalan separatists to pass his budget.

The four authors of Saturday’s letter — all members of former leader Carles Puigdemont’s party — are among 12 Catalan politicians and activists being tried on charges including rebellion and misappropriation of funds for their role in organizing a 2017 referendum and subsequent failed declaration of independence.

They also sought to rally support for their party by saying a strong showing would lessen the chances of a right-wing coalition, including the far-right party Vox, being able to form a government.

Despite narrowly winning a majority in 2017 snap elections called in the wake of the secession crisis, Catalan separatist parties have struggled to further the independence movement in the face of successive Madrid governments unwilling to negotiate any split from Spain.

(Reporting by Sam Edwards; Editing by Helen Popper)

Source: OANN

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Gold, Silver Demand Surge Since Financial Crisis

The conventional wisdom is that demand for gold and silver has been somewhat tepid over the last couple of years.

In fact, global gold demand grew by about 4% in 2018 and was in line with the five-year average. Much of that growth was due to a surged in demand through the fourth quarter as stock markets tanked, and concerns about debt and the global economy grew.

We tend to be pretty short-sighted when we look at market trends. Most investors focus on the day-to-day gyrations. As a result, we often completely miss significant long-term trends. For instance, investment demand for gold and silver has increased dramatically in the decade since the financial crisis.

According to data compiled by SRSrocco, investors purchased 16,200 tons of gold and 57,800 of silver from 2009-2018. That translates to 520 million ounces of gold and nearly 2 billion ounces of silver. This only includes physical coin and bar demand.

This compares with gold investment of 3,965 tons and 15,300 tons of silver investment between 1999 and 2008. In other words, investors bought nearly four times more gold and silver after the 2008 crash than they did in the decade before.


Dr. Nick Begich breaks down the corrupt foundation upon which the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank sit as they take advantage of free people living under their attempt to take total control of all economic activity.

Last year, retail investment in gold bars and gold coins grew by 4%. Coin demand reached a five-year high of 236.4 tons, the second highest total on record. Demand for gold bars held steady at 781.6 tons, the fifth year in succession of holding in a firm 780 to 800-ton range. As SRSrocco noted, this is still pretty healthy demand, especially considering 99% of investors are busy in the “Grand Global Casino.”

“That should say something about the strength of the precious physical metals demand with less than 1% of the market participating. What happens to gold and silver demand when the central banks are no longer able to prop up the financial and economic system? Please understand; it’s not a matter of ‘IF,’ it’s a matter of ‘WHEN.’”

(Photo by Виталий Смолыгин / CC0 Public Domain)

Despite the high demand for investment gold and silver in the last decade, the price of both has underperformed – primarily due to dollar strength. As SRSrocco points out, stocks and real estate prices have soared while metals, peaked, declined and then stayed relatively flat. This has led to a lot of frustration for precious metals investors. But SRSrocco makes a good point.

“That in itself should give anyone with a decent amount of intellectual know-how the ability to sniff out that… SOMETHING JUST AIN’T RIGHT.  For some odd reason, all the negative aspects of the economy, the massive debt, derivatives, and leverage are all but forgotten when all we do is focus on the highly inflated stock, bond, and real estate asset values. Unfortunately, the inability to see how the debt, derivatives, and leverage have created the biggest Global Ponzi Scheme in history will create the largest financial collapse ever witnessed, causing most investors to go bankrupt.  It’s only a matter of time, and time is running out.”


Colorado’s Senate passed the so-called ‘red flag bill’ that allows law enforcement to seize people’s guns if a court rules them at risk to themselves or others.

Source: InfoWars

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Senegal’s modernizing president leads field in upcoming election

A municipal worker prepares the election materials to be shipped to different cities in Dakar
A municipal worker prepares the election materials to be shipped to different cities in Dakar, Senegal February 6, 2019. Picture taken February 6, 2019 REUTERS/ Christophe Van Der Perre

February 19, 2019

By Sofia Christensen

DAKAR (Reuters) – President Macky Sall is the strong favorite to win Senegal’s election on Sunday, boosted by a modernizing first term that propelled economic growth although critics accuse him of jailing his rivals for political gain.

Sall, 57, is facing only four contenders in the first round of voting – the smallest presidential field since 1988 – after two of Senegal’s best-known opposition figures were ruled out because of corruption convictions.

Rights groups say this represents a crackdown on dissent in a country long seen as West Africa’s most stable democracy, which has seen peaceful transitions of power via the ballot box since independence from France in 1960.

But many voters and foreign backers applaud Sall for boosting economic growth to over six percent, one of the highest rates in Africa last year.

The growth was driven in part by a series of infrastructure projects including a new airport, 221 km (137 miles) of multi-lane motorways, a wrestling stadium and an express train that will connect the capital to a new city that has begun to rise from the semi-desert outside Dakar.

Billboards of Sall in a suit dot Dakar’s main coastal road and tout his achievements as the “Builder of Modern Senegal”.

“We are happy,” said fisherman Diabel Mbeguere, pulling his brightly-painted wooden boat onto Dakar’s Yoff beach after a day at sea. “There are highways here now, many things the president has done.”

“Electricity used to be a big problem,” he added.

Long power cuts that used to blight urban Senegal are rarer under Sall. Thousands of villages have gained access to electricity for the first time too, although more than half remain without power, according to the International Monetary Fund.

FRUSTRATED YOUTH

Opinion polls are banned in the run-up to elections, but a widely cited survey conducted by a Senegalese data company in November gave Sall 45 percent support. None of the other candidates had more than 16 percent.

His main challengers are former prime minister and third-time runner Idrissa Seck, 59, and 44-year old political rookie Ousmane Sonko, who is popular among Senegalese youth.

It is not yet clear how voting will be affected by the exclusion from the race of presidential hopefuls Khalifa Sall, a popular ex-mayor of Dakar who is no relation to Macky, and Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade.

Under Senegalese law, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade are barred from running as they were jailed for graft and corruption in 2018 and 2015 respectively. The opposition says this was a strategy to boost the president’s chances of winning, a charge the ruling party denies. Sall and Wade denied the charges.

Khalifa Sall has urged his supporters to vote for Seck, with whom he forged an alliance from behind bars earlier this month. Meanwhile Karim Wade’s father Abdoulaye says the vote is rigged and told supporters during a political meeting this month to take out the electoral roll and “douse it with petrol”.

His comments have been criticized by other opposition candidates and civil society groups and election day is not expected to be disrupted by widespread protests.

Even so, frustration with the incumbent is palpable among the educated youth, who struggle to find jobs in an economy based on exports of fish, phosphates and cement, and where more than half the population works in agriculture.

“Macky Sall promised to create 500,000 jobs for young people, but this never happened,” said 29-year old Romuald Preira, who recently completed a law degree at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop university.

“I can’t even find a small job or an internship, and I’m not the only one.”

In response to a social media campaign, a televised debate between candidates is scheduled to take place on Thursday. The event is a first for Senegal, but Sall has refused to take part.

More than 6.5 million people are registered to vote, with polls opening on Sunday at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) and closing at six (1800 GMT).

If no candidate secures a majority in the first round, the top two will face each other in a second round on March 24.

(Editing by Alessandra Prentice and Angus MacSwan)

Source: OANN

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Harvard profits from early photos of slaves, lawsuit says

Harvard University has "shamelessly" turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves' descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for "wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation" of images she says depict two of her ancestors. Her suit, filed in Massachusetts state court, demands that Harvard immediately turn over the photos, acknowledge her ancestry and pay an unspecified sum in damages.

Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain said the university "has not yet been served, and with that is in no position to comment on this complaint."

At the center of the case is a series of 1850 daguerreotypes, an early type of photo, taken of two South Carolina slaves identified as Renty and his daughter, Delia. Both were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles. The images are believed to be the earliest known photos of American slaves.

They were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories on racial difference were used to support slavery in the U.S. The lawsuit says Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially "pure" slaves born in Africa.

"To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens," the suit says. "The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered."

The suit attacks Harvard for its "exploitation" of Renty's image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It says Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a "hefty" licensing fee to reproduce the images. It also draws attention to a book Harvard sells for $40 with Renty's portrait on the cover. The, called "From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery," explores the use of photography in anthropology.

Among other demands, the suit asks Harvard to acknowledge that it bears responsibility for the humiliation of Renty and Delia, and that Harvard "was complicit in perpetuating and justifying the institution of slavery."

A researcher at a Harvard museum rediscovered the photos in storage in 1976. But Lanier's case argues Agassiz never legally owned the photos because he didn't have his subjects' consent, and that he didn't have the right to pass them to Harvard. Instead, the suit says, Lanier is the rightful owner as Renty's next of kin.

The suit also argues that Harvard's continued possession of the images violates the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

"Renty is 169 years a slave by our calculation," civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, one of Lanier's lawyers, said in an interview. "How long will it be before Harvard finally frees Renty?"

Lanier says she grew up hearing stories about Renty passed down from her mother. While enslaved in Columbia, South Carolina, the suit says, Renty taught himself to read and later held secret Bible readings on the plantation. He is described as "small in stature but towering in the minds of those who knew him."

The suit says Lanier has verified her genealogical ties to Renty, whom she calls "Papa Renty." She says he is her great-great-great-grandfather.

If given the photos, Lanier said she would "the true story of who Renty was." But she also hopes her case will spark a national discussion over race and history.

"This case is important because it will test the more climate of this country, and force this country to reckon with its long history of racism," Lanier said at a news conference outside the Harvard Club of New York City.

Crump, her attorney, added that the case could allow Harvard to "remove the stain from its legacy" and show it has the courage "to finally atone for slavery."

Lanier alleges that she wrote to Harvard in 2011 detailing her ties to Renty. In a letter to Drew Faust, then Harvard's president, Lanier said she wanted to learn more about the images and how they would be used. She was more explicit in 2017, demanding that Harvard relinquish the photos. In both cases, she said, Harvard responded but evaded her requests.

The school has used the photos as part of its own effort to confront its historical ties to slavery. At the 2017 conference called "Universities and Slavery: Bound by History," referenced in the lawsuit, Harvard printed Renty's portrait on the program cover and projected it on a giant screen above the stage.

In the image, Renty stares hauntingly into the camera, his hair graying and his gaunt frame exposed.

Lanier, who was in the audience at the event, said she was stunned by a passage in the program that described the origins of the photo but seemed to dismiss her genealogical findings. It said that the photo was taken for Agassiz's research and that "while Agassiz earned acclaim, Renty returned to invisibility."

The suit alleges that "by contesting Ms. Lanier's claim of lineage, Harvard is shamelessly capitalizing on the intentional damage done to black Americans' genealogy by a century's worth of policies that forcibly separated families, erased slaves' family names, withheld birth and death records, and criminalized literacy."

___

Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley

Source: Fox News National

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U.S. Energy Secretary Perry planning to leave Trump administration: Bloomberg

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends a news conference after meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih in Baghdad
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends a news conference after meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih in Baghdad, Iraq December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani/File Photo

April 18, 2019

Source: OANN

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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)

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)

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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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