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

French pilot in 1976 Uganda hijacking dies at 95

A French pilot who's remembered as a hero for his actions in the 1976 hijacking of an Air France plane to Uganda's Entebbe airport has died at the age of 95.

Michel Bacos was awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, for refusing to leave the plane's passengers after the plane was hijacked and grounded. Some 110 hostages were held in the airport terminal for nearly a week by seven pro-Palestinian hijackers before Israeli commandos freed them.

Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said in a statement Bacos died on Tuesday in the southern French city.

"By refusing with bravery to quit in the face of anti-Semitism and barbary, he honored France", Estrosi said.

Four hostages were killed along with the terrorists.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

At least 12 missing after 2 boat collisions off China

At least 12 people were missing after two collisions between ships and fishing boats off the southeast coast of China on Tuesday.

In Zhejiang province, local authorities said 14 people aboard a fishing boat fell into the water after their boat was hit by a ship and sank at about 1 a.m. Two were rescued and ships in the area were called in to help search for the others.

To the south, a search was underway for crew members of a fishing boat that collided with an oil tanker in waters off Hong Kong.

Hong Kong police said the fishing boat sank after the collision Tuesday morning. It wasn't immediately clear how many people were on board the fishing boat and how many were missing.

Police said all 13 crew members on the Chinese-registered oil tanker were safe.

The collision happened southeast of Hong Kong's Lamma Island. In January, at least one person died in a fire on a Vietnam-registered oil tanker as it prepared to refuel off the same island.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

2-year-old Tennessee girl shot in head while playing in backyard: report

A two-year-old Tennessee girl is reportedly in critical condition after she was shot by a stray bullet while playing in her backyard on March 15.

Ariel Salaices was with her two older brothers on a slide when she was hit in the head, ABC News reported, citing the Johnson County Sherriff’s Department.

MOM WARNS AFTER TODDLER WHO CHOKED ON POPCORN HAS PIECES REMOVED FROM LUNGS DAYS LATER

Salaices’ mother, Christina, said one of her brothers screamed for their father after she was shot. The little girl, who lives in Mountain City, southeast of Knoxville, fell off her playground set, walked toward the house and collapsed in front of her father and brothers, she told ABC. “If it weren’t for him and my husband, she probably wouldn’t have had a chance.” She said when Salaices' father got her to the hospital “it didn’t look good.”

Salaices is now on life support after being flown to the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville.

The bullet severed an artery and caused extensive damage to the back of her brain, her family’s GoFundMe page said. “She ended up having a stroke, and that being said she has no function or blood flow to the trauma area,” the page added.

Salaices went through a 2 plus-hour surgery and as of Friday afternoon the girl “is doing a bit better,” an update from the GoFundMe page said.

Salaices’ family is watching over her while staying nearby at the Ronald McDonald House, ABC News said.

Police are still trying to figure out where the shot came from, and the girl’s mother told ABC News there is a gun range near their home.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“She has already proved she's so strong and we have many plans for that little girl,” her family said on her GoFundMe page.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Scarlett Johansson Taken to LA Police Station After Paparazzi Incident

Scarlett Johansson was brought to a Los Angeles police station on Monday after she was “overpowered by paparazzi” following an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Fox News reports.

The actress was jostled by paparazzi after leaving the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. She was not injured, but her security team decided to take her to the Hollywood Station after the paparazzi left the scene.

The Los Angeles Police Department told CBS Los Angeles that Johansson was “spooked” by the experience, but was otherwise “in good spirits” before being taken home. She did not file a police report.

Source: NewsMax America

0 0

License required to repair doors? Regs spark heated debate in Arizona

PHOENIX -- Arizona wants to make it easier for workers who need an occupational license for their jobs.

A bill making its way through the state legislature would allow out-of-staters moving to Arizona to do their job with the occupational license they received from another state. Right now, Arizona has some of the most stringent laws that require workers to go through the state’s rigorous licensing standards before being allowed to work.

The law would impact jobs that require a license from the state -- barbers, realtors, nurses, bus drivers, respiratory therapists, security guards, teacher assistants and even to repair doors.The bill could set the tone for the rest of the nation when it comes to loosening occupational licensing requirements.

“This is actually a first of its kind bill and I think it's one that's going to set the trend for a lot of other states,” Steve Slivinski, Arizona State University Center of Economic Liberty senior research fellow, said.  “It's going to make Arizona a lot more competitive for people moving to the state…a lot of the licensing burdens we see nowadays are really excessive. It’s overregulation.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Realtor and State Rep. Warren Petersen sponsors the bill and said the goal is to offer universal occupational licensing recognition to anyone in the country who moves to Arizona, which Petersen said would make Arizona the first state in the country to allow that—and wants to let out-of-staters know “Arizona is open for business.”

“Were you educated?" Petersen sadi. "Were you doing a similar profession? So, the reality is, it’s not asking to…give them the upper-hand, it’s saying we’re going to put you on the same level as us. You’ve gone through what we’ve gone through so you shouldn’t have to start all over.”

“Were you educated?" Petersen sadi. "Were you doing a similar profession? So, the reality is, it’s not asking to…give them the upper-hand, it’s saying we’re going to put you on the same level as us. You’ve gone through what we’ve gone through so you shouldn’t have to start all over.” (Fox News)

“Those people have already gone through the same process, there’s a lot of parody in this bill because this bill looks at those other states and says did you get licensed in your state?” Petersen said. “Were you educated? Were you doing a similar profession? So, the reality is, it’s not asking to…give them the upper-hand, it’s saying we’re going to put you on the same level as us. You’ve gone through what we’ve gone through so you shouldn’t have to start all over.”

ARIZONA'S GOP GOVERNOR WAGING WAR AGAINST OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING LAWS

Even though Petersen is a realtor, the Arizona Association of Realtors is strongly against the bill, with concerns over out-of-state realtors coming in without the proper educational background that could put the public and homeowners at risk. In Arizona, to be a realtor you have to go through 90 hours of license education and six hours of contract writing, along with paying licensing fees.

“By having people come into the industry and not necessarily have the education or the background, it really could potentially create some situations where people are financially harmed…We do not believe that there's too much regulations,” Laslavic said.

“By having people come into the industry and not necessarily have the education or the background, it really could potentially create some situations where people are financially harmed…We do not believe that there's too much regulations,” Laslavic said. (Fox News)

Nicole Laslavic is the Arizona Association of Realtors vice president of government affairs and said the organization knows what works best for the industry in Arizona, having a “very specific, unique set of circumstances.” Laslavic said the statutes in place to be a licensed real estate agent are “sufficient.”

“By having people come into the industry and not necessarily have the education or the background, it really could potentially create some situations where people are financially harmed…We do not believe that there's too much regulations,” Laslavic said. "What we do believe is that when we are establishing regulation and government oversight that it needs to be done in a thoughtful manner where, ultimately, what we pass at the legislature and what’s signed at the governor’s office protects the public. ”

Certain occupational licensing professions are supporting the bill, like the Arizona Nurses Association, the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, and local Arizona chambers of commerce.

When it comes to those professions, including barbering, Petersen argues you don’t lose that skill simply by packing up and moving to another state.

“I don't think it's right,” Torres said. “I think everybody should pay. (You’re) trying to work under a license or you having any kind of license, go to the state board. Put your information down, put your name down let the state know that you’re licensed through this state, not just anywhere.”

“I don't think it's right,” Torres said. “I think everybody should pay. (You’re) trying to work under a license or you having any kind of license, go to the state board. Put your information down, put your name down let the state know that you’re licensed through this state, not just anywhere.” (Fox News)

“They would need to show us how somebody's hair in Arizona is vastly different than somebodies hair in another state,” Petersen said. “I’ve lived in multiple states and my hair stayed the same in every state that I moved to…That’s exactly what this bill does, it recognizes that your skills, your talent, your education, your experience, it doesn't dissolve just because you crossed the border into the state of Arizona.”

But, Junior Torres, who owns a barber shop in Phoenix, is concerned about people moving from another state and start working at a barbershop “just like that” without having to go through the same Arizona process he and other barbers did to get their licenses, including paying fees.

FIREFIGHTER HAS BECOME MASTER OF MAXING OUT OVERTIME PAY

“I don't think it's right,” Torres said. “I think everybody should pay. (You’re) trying to work under a license or you having any kind of license, go to the state board. Put your information down, put your name down let the state know that you’re licensed through this state, not just anywhere.”

“That’s like having somebody out in the street not having a license, they can just have a fake license or something and you just don’t know, I wouldn’t want that, I would want somebody being licensed to come up in here and show proof that they’re with the state,” Torres said. “That’s how its been for years, so why change it.”

“That’s like having somebody out in the street not having a license, they can just have a fake license or something and you just don’t know, I wouldn’t want that, I would want somebody being licensed to come up in here and show proof that they’re with the state,” Torres said. “That’s how its been for years, so why change it.” (Fox News)

Torres said there’s been a lot of barbers who’ve come looking for work who’ve had licenses from other states but he can’t honor those because this is his livelihood and he doesn’t want to put people at risk. But, if this bill becomes law, that would change.

“That’s like having somebody out in the street not having a license, they can just have a fake license or something and you just don’t know, I wouldn’t want that, I would want somebody being licensed to come up in here and show proof that they’re with the state,” Torres said. “That’s how its been for years, so why change it?”

Petersen said America has been a “beacon and example of freedom and entrepreneurship to the rest of the world and that's something that we need to preserve and maintain.”

“As we allow these excessive regulations and occupational licensees to proliferate, it's really stifling motivation for people to work, it's stifling entry into the economy, and it's really a downward pressure on productivity and people accomplishing things and promoting to the economy and to society,” Petersen said.

The occupational licensing bill is now up for a final vote in the Senate.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey is a strong advocate of the bill, even mentioning it in this year's State of the State. He plans on signing it, if it’s passed.

“100,000 people will move here this year,” Ducey said. “There’s a job available for every one of them. Lots of them are trained and certified in other states. Standing in their way of earning a living in Arizona, our own licensing boards, and their cronies who tell them -- 'you can’t work here. You haven’t paid the piper.' Let’s stop this foolishness. Pass Warren Petersen’s bill to grant universal recognition for all occupational licenses -- and let them work.”

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Vanderbilt University chancellor to resign in August

Citing health challenges, Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos has announced plans to resign on Aug. 15 after more than a decade in the role.

Zeppos announced Tuesday he plans to take a yearlong sabbatical before he returns to Vanderbilt as a law professor.

Zeppos replaced former chancellor Gordon Gee as the private Nashville university's interim leader in 2007 and was appointed chancellor in 2008.

Zeppos, a legal scholar from Milwaukee, had served as the university's chief academic officer since 2002. He joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1987 as an assistant law professor.

Provost Susan Wente will begin serving as interim chancellor on Aug. 15. Vanderbilt Board of Trust Chairman Bruce Evans will lead a search for Zeppos' permanent successor.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

$38M worth of cocaine seized in Philadelphia port, CBP says

Authorities made a hefty $38 million cocaine seizure on Tuesday, the largest for the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Area Port of Philadelphia in more than two decades, officials said.

The drug haul was found during an inspection of imported shipping containers at the city’s seaport, CBP said in a news release Thursday. It was a multi-agency effort, led by CBP and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

COPS ARREST 16 SUSPECTS IN $35M POT BUST IN ATLANTA

More than a dozen black duffel bags holding “a combined 450 bricks of a white powdery substance” – later confirmed to be cocaine – were located within one of the containers, the agency said. The drugs weighed roughly 1,185 pounds, they added.

“The shipping container commodity was natural rubber, which was laden in Guatemala,” the news release said.

Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore, hailed the team who conducted the apprehension.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

“Taking a half-ton of dangerous drugs out of circulation is a significant success for this collective team of federal, state and local law enforcement officers who work very hard every day to keep people safe,” Durst said. “Customs and Border Protection remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners and to disrupting narcotics smuggling attempts at the Area Port of Philadelphia.”

The cocaine confiscation is the largest for the CBP Area Port of Philadelphia since May 1998, the agency said.

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