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U.S. Congress wants to know why the FAA waited so long to ground Boeing 737 jets

FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

March 13, 2019

By David Shepardson and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress plans to scrutinize why the United States waited so many days to ground all Boeing Co 737 MAX jets involved in Sunday’s crash in Ethiopia as other countries and airlines acted more quickly.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the order on Wednesday was the result of “new evidence collected at the site and analyzed today” and “newly refined satellite data” that Canada had cited earlier in its decision to halt flights.

The FAA did not disclose the new evidence at the scene but said it was “the missing pieces” that aligned the track of the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes since October.

For decades, the United States has led the world in aviation safety, often setting standards that were later adopted by other countries. The agency came under heavy criticism from U.S. lawmakers and others who questioned why the FAA waited so long to ground the Boeing 737 MAX.

FAA officials plan to brief lawmakers Thursday, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

While President Donald Trump announced the ban on television, acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell said he made the decision with the support of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

“We were resolute in our position that we would not take action until we had data to support taking action,” Elwell told reporters. “That data coalesced today and we made the call.”

Canada grounded the planes earlier on Wednesday while the European Union acted on Tuesday. China and some airlines ordered the planes not to fly within hours of the crash on Sunday.

As of Wednesday night, regulators in Argentina and Mexico had not grounded planes.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, a Democrat, said “it has become abundantly clear to us that not only should the 737 MAX be grounded but also that there must be a rigorous investigation into why the aircraft, which has critical safety systems that did not exist on prior models, was certified without requiring additional pilot training.”

Elwell said Wednesday he was confident in the 737’s certification.

The Senate Commerce Committee also plans to hold a hearing as early as April. Senator Ted Cruz said he plans “to investigate these crashes, determine their contributing factors, and ensure that the United States aviation industry remains the safest in the world.”

The grounding was an abrupt reversal as the United States had repeatedly insisted the airplane was safe to fly even as regulators and airlines around the world grounded the airplane.

Trump spoke to Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg on Wednesday before the announcement.

United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co all fly versions of the 737 MAX and immediately halted flights on Wednesday.

American, with 24 737 MAX airplanes, said it will be “working to re-book customers as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

Boeing said it supported the action to temporarily ground 737 max operations after it consulted with the FAA, NTSB and its customers. Boeing shares were down 2 percent.

The shift came less than a day after U.S. regulators had again insisted the plane was safe. Even Chao flew aboard a 737 MAX on Tuesday.

The FAA plans to mandate design changes by April that have been in the works for months for the 737 MAX 8 fleet. Boeing said late Monday it will deploy a software upgrade across the 737 MAX 8 fleet “in the coming weeks.”

The company confirmed it had for several months “been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer.”

The FAA said the changes will “provide reduced reliance on procedures associated with required pilot memory items.”

Elwell said Wednesday he was hopeful software improvements “will be ready in a couple months” after testing and evaluation is completed by the FAA of what he called a “software patch.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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New Mexico compound suspects face new conspiracy charges

Federal authorities say five former residents of a New Mexico compound have been indicted on charges of conspiring on a plan to attack U.S. law enforcement officers and employees.

The charges in a superseding indictment Wednesday accuse the two men in the group — Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Lucas Morton — of constructing a firing range at the Taos County compound to train others for attacks that never occurred.

The men and three women living at the site were arrested following an August raid that led to the discovery of 11 hungry children living in filth.

Authorities had been searching for Wahhaj's son, who authorities say had medical issues before he was kidnapped from his mother in Georgia and taken by the group to New Mexico. He later died at the compound.

Source: Fox News National

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The Latest: Methodist conference rejects same-sex marriage

The Latest on The United Methodist Church's deliberations on LGBT inclusion (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Delegates to a crucial conference of The United Methodist Church, America's second-largest Protestant denomination, have rejected a move to ease the faith's ban on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy.

Some supporters of greater LGBT inclusion were in tears, while others vented their anger after delegates, on a 449-374 vote, defeated a proposal that would have let regional and local church bodies decide for themselves on gay-friendly policies.

Methodist pastor Rebecca Wilson of Detroit, who is gay, says she is devastated by the vote.

___

11 a.m.

The United Methodist Church teetered on the brink of breakup Monday after more than half the delegates at an international conference voted to maintain bans on same-sex weddings and ordination of gay clergy.

Their favored plan, if formally approved, could drive supporters of LGBT inclusion to leave America's second-largest Protestant denomination.

A final vote on rival plans for the church's future won't come until Tuesday's closing session, and the outcome remains uncertain. But the preliminary vote Monday showed that the Traditional Plan, which calls for keeping the LGBT bans and enforcing them more strictly, had the support of 56 percent of the more than 800 delegates attending the three-day conference in St. Louis.

.

Source: Fox News National

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Midwest, South face 'potentially unprecedented' flooding through May, NOAA says

While floodwaters may have receded in parts of the Midwest that have been inundated since the "bomb cyclone" triggered a devastating deluge earlier this month, forecasters are warning that snowmelt and heavy spring rains are creating the threat for major flooding through May.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its spring outlook on Thursday, stating that nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states face an elevated risk of flooding through May, with the potential for major or moderate flooding in 25 states.

“The extensive flooding we’ve seen in the past two weeks will continue through May and become more dire and may be exacerbated in the coming weeks as the water flows downstream,” said Ed Clark, director of NOAA’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “This is shaping up to be a potentially unprecedented flood season, with more than 200 million people at risk for flooding in their communities.”

AS FLOODS SWEEP MIDWEST, INDIVIDUAL OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS CAN REACH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

The upper Mississippi and Missouri River basins in states such as Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa have already been facing devastating flooding this year after rapid snowmelt combined with heavy spring rain.

This map released by the NOAA shows the locations where there is a greater than 50-percent chance of major, moderate or minor flooding during March through May, 2019.

This map released by the NOAA shows the locations where there is a greater than 50-percent chance of major, moderate or minor flooding during March through May, 2019. (NOAA)

Thousands were forced from their homes in Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri, as water broke through or poured over levees in the region. The damage is estimated at $3 billion, and that figure is expected to rise.

"Additional spring rain and melting snow will prolong and expand flooding, especially in the central and southern U.S. As this excess water flows downstream through the river basins, the flood threat will become worse and geographically more widespread," the NOAA said.

NEBRASKA FLOODING THAT IMPACTED CAPITAL'S WATER SUPPLY SEEN IN TIME-LAPSE VIDEO

Record precipitation over the winter has set the stage for an elevated flood risk along the upper, middle and lower Mississippi River basins including the Mississippi River. The threat also exists along the Red River, the Great Lakes, eastern Missouri River, lower Ohio, lower Cumberland and Tennessee River basins.

Snowmelt in the Dakotas and Minnesota is expected to send more water down those rivers, and above-average precipitation is also expected over the Central and Eastern U.S., adding to the flood risk.

This Wednesday, March 20, 2019 aerial photo shows flooding near the Platte River in in Plattsmouth, Neb., south of Omaha.

This Wednesday, March 20, 2019 aerial photo shows flooding near the Platte River in in Plattsmouth, Neb., south of Omaha. (DroneBase via AP)

"The upper Mississippi and Red River of the North basins have received widespread rain and snow this spring, up to 200 percent of normal," National Weather Service Deputy Director Mary Erickson told reporters.

The agency's flood risk outlook is based on several conditions, including snowpack, drought, soil moisture, frost depth and precipitation.

"Local heavy rainfall, especially associated with thunderstorms, can occur throughout the spring and lead to flooding even in areas where overall risk is considered low," the agency said. "In the western U.S., snowpacks at higher elevations may continue to build over the next month, and the flood risk will depend on future precipitation and temperatures."

On Saturday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said President Trump granted her request for an expedited disaster declaration for 56 counties with flooding damage. The move makes assistance available to homeowners, renters, businesses, public entities and some nonprofit organizations. Flooding in Nebraska has caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage. The state received Trump's federal disaster assistance approval on Thursday.

NEBRASKA FLOODS SWAMP AIR FORCE BASE, AS DEVASTATION FROM 'BOMB CYCLONE' SEEN IN SATELLITE PHOTOS

In Missouri, a precautionary evacuation involving hundreds of homes in the St. Joseph area was lifted Saturday as the Missouri River began a swift decline after unofficially rising to a new all-time high, inches above the 1993 record.

Flooding in Nebraska has caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage. The state received Trump's federal disaster assistance approval on Thursday.

Flooding in Nebraska has caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage. The state received Trump's federal disaster assistance approval on Thursday. (Kent Sievers/The World-Herald via AP)/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

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The Missouri River had yet to crest further downstream in Missouri, but the flooding impact in those areas was expected to be far less severe.

St. Joseph was largely spared, but Buchanan County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Brinton told the Associated Press that 250 homes were flooded in the southern part of the county. It wasn't clear when residents would be able to get back, but Brinton said the region has already been ravaged by flooding this year.

"There's a sense from the National Weather Service that we should expect it to continue to happen into May," Brinton said. "With our levee breaches in Atchison and Holt and Buchanan counties, it's kind of scary, really."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Credit Agricole investment bank needs to cut costs, deputy CEO says

FILE PHOTO: A Credit Agricole logo is seen outside a bank office in Vertou near Nantes
FILE PHOTO: A Credit Agricole logo is seen outside a bank office in Vertou near Nantes, France, February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo

April 10, 2019

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Credit Agricole needs to reduce costs at its investment bank but will stop short of restructuring, a senior official said as the industry faces slowing revenue.

Xavier Musca, deputy chief executive officer of the French lender, told journalists that there were too many investment banks not sufficiently focused on their business.

But Credit Agricole already restructured in 2011 and 2012 to downsize the investment bank to refocus, he said.

“We will not announce a restructuring,” Musca said. “We will need to reduce costs, but it will not be a restructuring as announced by others.”

Societe Generale plans to cut 1,600 jobs, mainly at its corporate and investment banking arm, in an attempt to boost profits after a poor performance last year, France’s third-largest bank said on Tuesday.

And Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is considering scaling back its bond and equity sales and trading operations in London and New York as part of a broader restructuring of its global markets division, two sources said on Tuesday.

Musca said the bank would announce a medium-term strategic plan on June 6 but that radical change was not in store.

“We have a good business model, and we will not change it,” he told a club of business journalists in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening. The comments were embargoed for Wednesday.

Musca is also chairman of the board of directors at Amundi, the asset manager mostly owned by Credit Agricole.

Musca said that Amundi was open to acquisitions, though focused on organic growth.

“We consider Amundi as a natural consolidator in Europe, in particular in the euro zone,” he said. “We have capabilities to buy a lot of things, because we are a strong bank and have capacity to invest.”

Speculation has been mounting over recent weeks that DWS, the asset manager mostly owned by Deutsche Bank, could go on sale to finance a merger with Commerzbank.

Deutsche Bank and DWS declined to comment.

(Reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Michelle Martin)

Source: OANN

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North Korea, seeking food aid, links sanctions to shortages

North Korean factories are filling city store shelves with ever better and fancier snack foods and sugary drinks, while government officials and international aid organizations warn the nation could be on the verge of a major food crisis.

North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Kim Song, issued an unusual appeal for "urgent" food assistance last month. He cited record-high temperatures, drought and flooding that cut the harvest this year by more than 10 percent.

The government says it's stepping up imports and working to increase the output of early and basic crops such as wheat and barley.

Hazel Smith, a North Korea expert at the University of London, says supplies from all sources might only stretch to feed about three-quarters of the population at the most basic survival level this year.

Source: Fox News World

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Michael Avenatti lived luxury life while avoiding paying taxes for a decade, says federal tax authorities

Embattled lawyer Michael Avenatti evaded paying taxes for over a decade while simultaneously living the high-life and splashing money on expensive cars, jewelry, and luxury apartments, IRS records reveal.

Avenatti, who once represented adult-film star Stormy Daniels before she dropped him, is currently facing almost 100 years in prison stemming from charges in two separate cases.

Federal prosecutors in New York accused the hotshot lawyer on Monday of operating “an old-fashioned shakedown” after trying to extort about $25 million from sports apparel giant Nike “by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met.”

In California, He was also charged with wire fraud and bank fraud, following a lengthy investigation by the authorities.

MICHAEL AVENATTI'S LATEST ACCUSATIONS OF EXTORTING NIKE MARK END OF HIS SHOT AT REDEMPTION AFTER SPECTACULAR FALL FROM GRACE

But the legal problems for Avenatti don’t end here – he’s been accused by tax authorities of failing to pay millions of dollars in income tax and through his company. The authorities began pursuing the lawyer nearly a decade ago.

According to the IRS documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Avenatti earned $1.9 million in personal income back in 2009, yet didn’t pay the $570,000 he owed in taxes. In 2010, he earned $1.2 million, yet again didn’t pay the supposed $282,000 tax bill to the IRS.

Federal prosecutors now claim that since 2010, Avenatti hasn’t filed personal income tax returns even though $18 million came into his bank account.

Avenatti’s personal bank accounts aren’t the only place authorities are looking into. The lawyer’s company Avenatti & Associates, which reportedly recorded $38 million in deposits, has also not filed tax returns.

Yet while he’s been allegedly avoiding paying taxes, Avenatti used his company to pay for personal expenses, including $176,500 to Exclusive Resorts, an elite private vacation club, according to the Times.

MICHAEL AVENATTI 'NERVOUS,' 'SCARED' ABOUT PROSPECT OF PRISON TIME, LABELS NIKE EXTORTION ALLEGATIONS 'ABSURD'

The IRS notes that Avenatti also spent $217,000 at department store Neiman Marcus, nearly $120,000 at a watch store, $277,236 and $39,762 on Porsche and Ferrari dealers respectively.

He splashed $100,000-a-month rent on a luxury waterfront house in Newport Beach in California, while also paying $123,825 in rent on his apartment in a luxury high-rise in Century City.

“During these tax years, Avenatti generated substantial income and lived lavishly,” an IRS investigator, Remoun Karlous, wrote in documents reviewed by the newspaper.

“During these tax years, Avenatti generated substantial income and lived lavishly.”

— IRS investigator Remoun Karlous

Amid the legal troubles in California and New York, Avenatti said earlier this week that he’s “nervous” and “scared” about potentially being put behind bars.

“No, and any suggestion is absolutely absurd,” he told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan when asked if he tried to extort money from the sports company.

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“Nike knew, from the very first moment that I had any contact with Nike, that I was insisting that the truth about what Nike had done be disclosed to federal prosecutors and investigators,” he said on the network.

“The truth is, for years Nike and its executives have been funneling payments to amateur players, high school players and to their handlers and family members in an effort to get them to go to colleges that were Nike colleges and ultimately hopefully to the NBA so they can sign a shoe deal with Nike.”

Avenatti was released on a $300,000 bond on Monday following his arrest in New York. He’s set to appear in court in April.

Source: Fox News National

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

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FLOOD WARNINGS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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