Now On Air

Liberty #MAGAOne Mix

Via MAGA One Mix

6:00 am 8:00 am


Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Liberty #MAGAOne Mix

Via MAGA One Mix

6:00 am 8:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

20,000 attend New Zealand vigil to remember Christchurch mosque victims, survivor says he forgives gunman

A crowd of 20,000 people attended a national memorial service in New Zealand Friday to remember the victims of the Christchurch terror attack.

During the service, the names of the 50 people, who were massacred after a heavily-armed Australian gunman attacked two Mosques earlier this month, were read out loud as the crowd stood in silence.

WWII VETERAN, 95, TAKES FOUR BUSES TO MARCH AFTER NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE SHOOTINGS

In this photo supplied by the New Zealand government, Mosque shooting survivor Farid Ahmed addresses the national remembrance service in Hagley Park for the victims of the March 15 mosques terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 29, 2019.

In this photo supplied by the New Zealand government, Mosque shooting survivor Farid Ahmed addresses the national remembrance service in Hagley Park for the victims of the March 15 mosques terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 29, 2019. (Mark Tantrum/New Zealand Government via AP)

A man who survived the terror attack – but lost his wife – told the crowd that he forgives the terrorist who committed the atrocity.

“I don’t want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano,” Farid Ahmed said. “A volcano has anger, fury, rage. It doesn’t have peace. It has hatred. It burns itself within, and also it burns the surroundings. I don’t want to have a heart like this.”

“I don’t want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano. A volcano has anger, fury, rage. It doesn’t have peace. It has hatred. It burns itself within, and also it burns the surroundings. I don’t want to have a heart like this.”

— Farid Ahmed, survivor of the terror attack

Ahmed said that while he disagrees with the gunman’s actions, his faith teaches him to see everyone as a brother, including the gunman.

The Friday service was the third memorial held since the massacre. The gunman, who Fox News is not naming, has been charged with murder in the attacks.

NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE SHOOTING SUSPECT SENT LARGE DONATION TO AUSTRIAN FAR-RIGHT LEADER, SPARKING ANTI-TERROR PROBE

In this Friday, March 29, 2019, file photo, women react as the New Zealand national anthem is sung during a national remembrance service in Hagley Park for the victims of the March 15 mosque terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.

In this Friday, March 29, 2019, file photo, women react as the New Zealand national anthem is sung during a national remembrance service in Hagley Park for the victims of the March 15 mosque terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

Foreign officials and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the memorial service. Morrison said it was “a thing of absolute beauty.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meanwhile called for an end of extremism in the world, invoking the stories of impacted by the attacks.

“They were stories of bravery. They were stories of those who were born here, grew up here, or who had made New Zealand their home. Who had sought refuge, or sought a better life for themselves or their families,” she said. “These stories, they now form part of our collective memories. They will remain with us forever. They are us.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Our challenge now is to make the very best of us a daily reality,” she continued. “We are not immune to the viruses of hate, of fear, of other. We have never been.

“But we can be the nation that discovers the cure. And so to each of us as we go from here, we have work to do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

South Carolina men arrested after bodies of 2 women discovered buried at home, officials say

Two men have been arrested in connection with the deaths of two women after their bodies were discovered Friday on a property in South Carolina after one of the suspects confessed from a hospital bed to killing one of them after an attempt on his own life, officials said.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook that Jonathan Galligan, 39, and Christian Hulburt, 41, were arrested and charged with murder Saturday after the bodies of 27-year-old Christin Renee Bunner and 40-year-old Melissa Fairlee Rhymer were discovered on the property of a home in Spartanburg.

"I cannot imagine somebody coming in telling me that they found my child," Sheriff Chuck Wright told FOX Carolina. "Especially in the condition that they were in."

MISSING FLORIDA WOMAN’S BLOOD FOUND ON SOCK, BOOTS BELONGING TO HER ACCUSED KILLER: DOCUMENTS

Authorities were alerted to the bodies at the home from an incident earlier in the week between deputies and Hulburt when they were called to a towing company Wednesday night on a report of a disturbance involving a man with weapons.

Christian Hulburt (left) and Jonathan Galligan (right) were arrested and charged Saturday with the killings of two women after their bodies were discovered buried on a property in Spartanburg, S.C., on Friday.

Christian Hulburt (left) and Jonathan Galligan (right) were arrested and charged Saturday with the killings of two women after their bodies were discovered buried on a property in Spartanburg, S.C., on Friday. (Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office)

When officers arrived, Hulburt would not comply with commands and eventually pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head in front of deputies, police told FOX Carolina.

After being taken to a hospital and surviving the gunshot wound, Hulburt confessed at the hospital to officers that he had witnessed Galligan kill Bunner at the towing company before helping him bury her behind a home in Spartanburg. Bunner had been reported missing in December, and was Galligan's girlfriend at the time, according to police.

The bodies were discovered on the property of a home in Spartanburg, S.C. on Friday after Christian Hulburt confessed to murdering one victim and burying the body there.

The bodies were discovered on the property of a home in Spartanburg, S.C. on Friday after Christian Hulburt confessed to murdering one victim and burying the body there. (FOX Carolina)

Officers tried to initially find the burial site on Thursday to no avail before returning Friday morning with cadaver dogs and interviewing Galligan about Bunner's missing person case. The sheriff's office said that Galligan immediately asked for an attorney, and was released because there was not enough evidence at the time to charge him.

When investigators returned to the hospital to speak with Hulburt, he confessed there was a second woman buried on the property as well. That woman, later identified as Rhymer, was killed at the home sometime in January 2019 and buried near Bunner's grave, police told FOX Carolina.

MISSING MOM CASE LEADS FBI TO GEORGIA LANDFILL

After providing additional details to where the bodies were located, cadaver dogs at the home eventually found where the remains of the two women were located. Rhymer of Mountville, S.C., who was not reported missing, was identified by fingerprints at a morgue.

A neighbor said he had not seen anyone at the home in weeks.

A neighbor said he had not seen anyone at the home in weeks. (FOX Carolina)

A neighbor told FOX Carolina that three men and a woman lived at the house where the bodies were discovered but had not been seen in weeks.

"I didn't even know that was going on, not next to us because they didn't bother nobody when they were staying there," the neighbor said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Hulburt was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon, shortly after Galligan was taken into custody. Both appeared before a judge for a bond arraignment Saturday night, where they were both denied, WYFF reported.

Galligan is charged with murder for Bunner's homicide and accessory after the fact for Rhymer's killing, according to jail records online. Hulburt is charged with murder for Rhymer's slaying, accessory after the fact for Bunner's homicide, in addition to unlawful possession of a pistol by a convicted felon for the incident at the towing company.

Autopsies are now scheduled on the bodies of both women to determine a cause of death. Sheriff's officials said they believe there are not anymore suspects in connection with the two killings or any more victims on the property. Deputies added they do not have a motive for the killings of Bunner and Rhymer.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Pakistan's army strips ex-spy chief of pension over book

Pakistan's army has stripped a former spy chief of his pension and other benefits over a book he co-authored with his former Indian counterpart.

Maj.

Durrani co-authored "Spy Chronicles," a book that documents his exploits as head of Inter-Services Intelligence from 1990 to 1992, with A.S. Daulat, the former head of India's Research and Analysis Wing, and Indian journalist Aditya Sinha. Released last year, it suggests Pakistan cooperated with the U.S. in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Ghafoor added that two military officers are also in custody facing espionage charges. He gave no further details.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Franklin Graham: Buittigieg Should Repent, Not Flaunt, Being Gay

Evangelical leader Franklin Graham on Wednesday chastised Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg for being gay, calling homosexuality a “sin” that the South Bend, Ind., mayor and war veteran ought to “repent.”

In a tweet, Graham, son of the late Billy Graham, called out the candidate, who is a newlywed, and whose candidacy has been surging in early polls.

“Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian,” Graham tweeted. “As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman — not two men, not two women.”

The tweet follows a  CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Tuesday during which Buttigieg said, “I get that one of the things about Scripture is different people see different things in it.”

“At the very least we should be able to establish that God does not have a political party,” he said.

“It can be challenging to be a person of faith who’s also part of the LGBTQ community and yet, to me, the core of faith is regard for one another,” Buttigieg added. “And part of God’s love is experienced, according to my faith tradition, is in the way that we support one another and, in particular, support the least among us.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

0 0

Sudan’s Bashir appoints ruling party head as assistant: presidency

FILE PHOTO: Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum
FILE PHOTO: Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

March 21, 2019

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has appointed ruling party head Ahmed Haroun, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), as an assistant, a presidency statement said on Thursday.

Bashir, who has faced more than three months of street protests against his rule, delegated the leadership of the National Congress Party to Haroun earlier this month.

Both Bashir and Haroun are wanted by the ICC over alleged crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

0 0

Report: Trump Attorneys Never Seriously Worried About Collusion

Donald Trump's legal team was more concerned about potential claims of obstruction of justice concerning the president than any possible collusion with Russia before special counsel Robert Mueller's report was completed, NBC News is reporting.

Martin and Jane Raskin, the husband and wife legal team worked with constitutional lawyer Jay Sekulow, who led the Trump legal team. The Raskins joined the president's legal team last April and dealt directly with Mueller's team, according to the network news.

According to NBC News, by the time the two arrived prosecutors were seldom asking serious questions about Russia.

"It became obvious to the legal team early on that Russia collusion was not a substantive issue," Sekulow told NBC News.

Mueller's office was seeking answers why Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and why he denounced the Russia probe on Twitter, the network news reported, attributing the information to sources.

Mueller's team, on several occasions, made formal requests for a sit-down interview with the president, NBC News said. But Trump's legal team resisted.

The Raskins, Sekulow, and Rudy Giuliani were in Sekulow's office Sunday when Barr released Mueller's conclusions.

Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein "have concluded that the evidence developed during the special counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."

And Barr quoted Mueller as saying "while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it does not exonerate him" on obstruction.

Trump's legal team members, convinced they had a total victory, high-fived one another upon hearing the news.

Source: NewsMax Politics

0 0

Storms blast South, where tornadoes threaten several states

Strong storms were still roaring across the South on Friday, after killing two Mississippi drivers and a woman in Alabama and leaving more than 100,000 people without power across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

The threat on Friday shifted to Georgia, where multiple tornado warnings covered parts of northeast Georgia. There were no immediate reports of any damage from those storms, but the tornado threat was expected to continue well into the day in the Carolinas and Virginia.

The national Storm Prediction Center said 9.5 million people in the Carolinas and Virginia are at a moderate risk of severe weather.

National Weather Service forecasters said they believe multiple tornadoes hit southwest and central Mississippi on Thursday, although they won't be sure until the damage is surveyed. Heavy winds also were reported in Louisiana earlier in the day and in central Alabama as the system quickly pushed eastward.

On the back side of the system, there were also reports late Thursday of high winds in southern Oklahoma.

A Mississippi man was killed Thursday afternoon when his car hit a tree on a highway south of Philadelphia, Mississippi, Neshoba County Coroner John Stephens told local news outlets. Stephens did not immediately release the man's name.

Kenderick Magee, 24, was also killed while driving in the storm, WLBT-TV reported. Magee fatally crashed near the rural town of Gillsburg in southwest Mississippi, Amite County Coroner Campbell Sharp said.

Two minor injuries were reported in Harvey, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, when a power pole fell on two vehicles.

Alabama authorities said a woman was killed Thursday night after strong storms knocked a tree onto her mobile home in St Clair County.

Damage was heavy in the Mississippi hamlet of Learned, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Jackson. Large oaks were uprooted from saturated ground, landing on at least a dozen houses.

One belongs to the family of Jesse Qualls, a Mississippi State University student who was on his way home for Easter when the storms hit. He says his mother had gone to pick up his sister from school and returned to find a pecan tree had crashed through Qualls' bedroom and bathroom. His dog Dukey was uninjured.

Qualls said he got a tearful call from his mother, but he struggled to make it home, using his truck to push fallen trees off roads leading into town.

"I saw the house and I started freaking out," Qualls said, as residents and emergency workers sawed up other trees off streets in the 100-resident town. "My dad passed away a while ago and this is all I have left of him."

To the northeast, Scott County Emergency Management Director Mike Marlow said reports indicated a number of homes were damaged near Morton and the roof blew off a gas station near Lena. In Philadelphia, Mississippi, a wall collapsed at a medical clinic and the storm knocked down traffic signals and canopies and pushed trees onto houses, the Neshoba Democrat reported.

Damage from the storm system was reported in at least 24 of Mississippi's 82 counties.

Source: Fox News National

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Liberty #MAGAOne Mix

Via MAGA One Mix

6:00 am 8:00 am



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist