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Sudanese army refuses to extradite president wanted for war crimes

The Sudanese army will not extradite deposed President Omar al-Bashir but will put him on trial at home, before the nation, the military said Friday as it defended its ouster of the longtime ruler, saying it was in response to the demands of the people.

"This was not a coup," Col. Gen. Omar Zein Abedeen told reporters in the capital, Khartoum, but a "tool of change."

Al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court, faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for his deadly campaign against insurgents in Darfur, where up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million driven from their homes by militias he backed.

To hand over al-Bashir would be "an ugly mark on Sudan ... even rebels carrying weapons, we won't extradite them," said Zein Abedeen, who has been tasked by the military to lead a political dialogue.

SUDANESE LEADER OUSTED AFTER THREE DECADES

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum that was broadcast on state TV and flanked by other officers also in uniform, he left open the possibility that a future civilian government in Sudan could extradite al-Bashir to the court in The Hague, Netherlands.

The 75-year-old al-Bashir is in custody, Zein Abedeen said, but declined to provide more details or say where the president of 30 years is being held. He also confirmed that top government members, including the vice president and al-Bashir's associates, are under arrest but didn't give any names.

Sudanese forces celebrate on Thursday after officials said the military had forced longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step down after 30 years in power.

Sudanese forces celebrate on Thursday after officials said the military had forced longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step down after 30 years in power.

Zein Abedeen, who is on the military transitional council which took over after overthrowing al-Bashir on Thursday, also insisted the army has no ambition to hold the reins of power for long.

"We came ... to guide the country forward," Zein Abedeen said, apparently trying to reassure Sudanese protesters holding a sit-in outside the military headquarters. The protesters have defied the military, which imposed a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew after it arrested al-Bashir.

He pledged the military would stay on only as long as it's needed, or for a maximum of two years.

Meanwhile, the pro-democracy protesters who spent four months on the streets rallying against al-Bashir, pressed on with their campaign for a civilian government.

Thousands kept up their sit-in outside the Khartoum military headquarters overnight and into the morning, despite the curfew. Organizers said they would keep up the campaign and that they disagree with the army's plans to rule the country for the next two years.

Zein Abedeen did not indicate at the press conference that the army would move against the protesters, but made vague remarks how he would "come out ... sit on the grass" and talk with the demonstrators.

The mood among the crowd appeared festive Friday, with protesters playing music and chanting, "Down again" — a reference to Defense Minister Awad Mohammed Ibn Ouf who announced al-Bashir's ouster on Thursday on Sudanese state TV.

Ibn Ouf, who is on a U.S. sanctions list for genocide in Darfur, was sworn in as head of the new military transitional council, which also includes Zein Abedeen.

The rest of the council is yet to be announced. The Sudanese official news agency SUNA reported that Ibn Ouf postponed this step, pending "further consultations." SUNA said Ibn Ouf would meet with political factions and leaders of the protest movement later in the day.

The U.S. State Department has called on the Sudanese military to "follow the will of the people" and "commit to the speedy handover to civilian rule."

On Friday, the commander of Sudan's feared Rapid Support Force, a paramilitary force, said it would not "accept any solutions rejected by the Sudanese people" and for "opening the door for dialogue" with the protest movement.

The force draws its origins from the Janjaweed militias that were implicated in the Darfur genocide. Mohammed Hamadati, the commander, said talks are needed so Sudan would "avoid slipping into chaos."

In his televised announcement Thursday, Ibn Ouf said also that the military had suspended the constitution, dissolved the government, declared a three-month state of emergency and closed the country's borders and airspace.

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Sudan analyst and researcher Eric Reeves described the military's ouster of the longtime president as a "palace coup with al-Bashir as scapegoat."

"The three-month state of emergency is a clear indication that they intend to crush the uprising in this time," he said of the Sudanese military.

Source: Fox News World

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Colorado lawmakers pass law overhauling oil and gas drilling regulations

FILE PHOTO: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis speaks at his midterm election night party in Denver
FILE PHOTO: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis speaks at his midterm election night party in Denver, Colorado U.S. November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Evan Semon

April 3, 2019

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) – Colorado lawmakers approved a bill on Wednesday overhauling regulations governing the state’s robust oil and gas industry to prioritize public health and safety, over opposition by Republicans and industry groups.

Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill passed by majority Democrats, into law.

The controversial measure, which proponents say is the most sweeping changes to regulations in energy-rich Colorado in decades, would give local communities more oversight over development in their jurisdictions.

The legislation requires the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees the industry, to hire a full-time staff of experts who will evaluate drilling impacts to air quality, among other controls.

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Senator Steve Fenberg, said in a statement that the revamped regulations were “long overdue.”

“This bill will ensure that public health and safety are the top priority in regulating oil and gas development in Colorado, and will empower local governments with the tools they need to address the concerns of their individual communities,” Fenberg said.

Colorado ranks as the fifth-biggest state in the nation in crude oil production and sixth in natural gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry group which opposed the bill, last month released a study it commissioned that said oil and gas production employs 89,000 people and pours $1 billion in tax revenues to state and local government coffers.

The association said new rules could jeopardize what it called an “economic juggernaut.” The association said in a joint statement with the Colorado Petroleum Council after the bill’s passage that despite some amendments to the original bill that allayed some of the industry’s concerns, it still opposes the measure.

“State officials have committed to working with industry experts during the highly complex regulatory rulemakings following the bill’s enactment,” the statement said. “That will be critical to minimizing the bill’s negative impacts on our state, and we hope that process can begin immediately.”

Environmental groups that pushed the legislation hailed its passage.

“Coloradans can breathe easier today knowing that our state is finally on track to put the health and safety of workers and residents, and our environment ahead of oil and gas industry profits,” Kelly Nordini, executive director of Conservation Colorado, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; editing by Bill Tarrant and Leslie Adler)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: France won’t offer Assange asylum unless asked

The Latest on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's arrest (all times local):

9:45 a.m.

France's government says it won't consider offering Julian Assange political asylum unless he asks for it.

Assange's French lawyer has appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron to intervene to bring the WikiLeaks founder from a London jail to France and help him avoid extradition to the United States.

Lawyer Juan Branco told The Associated Press on Thursday that Macron should offer mediation and to "take this man under our protection." He said Assange has a small child in France.

France's secretary of state for European affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, said Friday on France-Inter radio that while Europe has special measures to protect whistleblowers, France hasn't received a formal request from Assange. She said "we should listen to what he wants to do" but "we don't offer asylum to someone who's not asking for it."

Macron hasn't commented publicly.

Assange was arrested Thursday in London and faces U.S. charges related to WikiLeaks' publication of tens of thousands of classified government documents.

___

9 a.m.

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party says the government should oppose the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States.

Jeremy Corbyn said in a tweet that the U.S. is trying to extradite Assange because he exposed "evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Diane Abbott, Labour's spokeswoman for domestic affairs, told the BBC on Friday that the government should block the extradition on human rights grounds. Assange was arrested Thursday at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Abbott says the U.S. case against Assange is about the "embarrassment of the things he's revealed about the American military and security services."

She says Assange is "a whistleblower, and much of the information that he brought into the public domain, it could be argued, was very much in the public interest."

Source: Fox News World

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Seoul: North Korea withdrew staff from liaison office

South Korea says North Korea has withdrawn its staff from an inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea.

The development came after the second U.S.-North Korea summit talks in Vietnam last month collapsed due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on the country.

Seoul's Unification Ministry said Friday that North Korea informed South Korea of its decision during a contact at the liaison office at the North Korean border town of Kaesong.

The ministry calls the North's decision "regrettable."

It says the North didn't give a specific reason for its move.

The liaison office opened last September as part of a flurry of reconciliation steps.

Source: Fox News World

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Peruvian judge orders ex-President Kuczynski to pre-trial jail for three years

FILE PHOTO: Peru's former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is seen at a court, after his arrest as part of an investigation into money laundering, in Lima
FILE PHOTO: Peru's former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is seen at a court, after his arrest as part of an investigation into money laundering, in Lima, Peru April 16, 2019. Picture taken April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Guadalupe Pardo

April 19, 2019

LIMA (Reuters) – A Peruvian judge on Friday ordered former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to spend up to three years in jail while prosecutors prepare corruption charges against him for allegedly taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

The decision comes just two days after another former Peruvian president, Alan Garcia, committed suicide to avoid arrest in connection with Odebrecht, a Brazilian firm that has laid waste to Peru’s established political class as it has implicated officials and political leaders in alleged bribery schemes.

Kuczynski, an 80-year-old former Wall Street banker who once held U.S. citizenship, denies wrongdoing. Kuczynski did not attend the hearing before Judge Jorge Chavez on Friday because he was receiving treatment for heart problems in a local clinic.

After Garcia killed himself on Wednesday, Kuczynski’s attorney asked prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez to consider putting Kuczynski under house arrest instead of pre-trial detention as planned. But Perez said Kuczynski’s health problems could be treated without problem in jail, and Judge Chavez approved his request to hold Kuczynski in jail for 36 months before trial.

The ruling came as Garcia was being buried and will likely further fuel criticism that the Odebrecht probe has become too aggressive and that prosecutors and judges were abusing the use of so-called “preventive prison,” or pre-trial detention.

Under Peruvian law, criminal suspects can be held in jail before trial for up to three years if prosecutors show evidence that they would likely be convicted and would probably try to flee or obstruct the investigation unless detained.

Peru’s four most recent presidents and the leader of the opposition have been ordered to pre-trial detention in connection with Odebrecht since the company admitted in late 2016 that it paid some $30 million in bribes to Peruvian politicians, part of a sophisticated bribery system its former executives detailed to authorities abroad.

Prosecutors in the Odebrecht probe say they need preventive prison to keep wealthy and powerful suspects from evading justice as they gather evidence in the country’s biggest graft investigation. But critics, including the chief justice of Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal, Ernesto Blume, say it is being used excessively in response to anger at widespread corruption.

Kuczynski, who was president a little over a year ago, has said he has cooperated fully with investigators, even declining to file an appeal when they barred him from leaving the country shortly after resigning in March of 2018.

As president, Kuczynski initially denied having any link to Odebrecht. But he eventually acknowledged his consulting company advised Odebrecht on financing for projects that it had won while he was a cabinet minister in the government of former President Alejandro Toledo.

Toledo is fighting extradition from the United States after a judge ordered him jailed before a trial over allegations he took a $20 million bribe Odebrecht.

Another former president, Ollanta Humala, spent nine months in pre-trial detention in connection with Odebrecht before he was released on appeal.

(Reporting By Mitra Taj)

Source: OANN

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Media ‘Romanticizes’ Illegal Aliens, ‘Vilifies’ Border Agents – Border Patrol Council President

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd expressed his disgust with mainstream media and leftists who bash border enforcement agents while idealizing illegal aliens.

Judd slammed the double-standard being applied by the globalist press during an interview on Fox and Friends on Thursday.

“It’s so frustrating and disappointing to see that border patrol agents are vilified for strictly enforcing the laws that Congress put in place,” Judd said. “We’re trying to protect the American public. Yet, they romanticize those people crossing the border illegally and vilify the good guys that are trying to do the job for the American public.”

Judd also addressed the on-going migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border, asserting that the system is totally overwhelmed as hundreds of thousands of migrants pour into the country.

“What we are looking at is all of our resources being pulled from the field as [Chief Patrol Agent Rodolfo Karisch] testified that we just don’t have the resources in the field to deal with the numbers of people that are crossing the border,” Judd said. “And what we have to look at is the number of people that are actually getting away, evading apprehension. Texas Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz from the same sector said within this fiscal year alone, we have 25,000 people that were able to evade apprehension.”

“Those are people we do not know what their purpose for coming into the United States are. We don’t know where they are from. That’s a very dangerous situation and dynamic we are setting up.”

Judd expressed his approval of Kevin McAleenan stepping into the role of acting DHS head following the departure of Kirstjen Nielsen, whom Judd believes was not cut out for the job.

“It’s absolutely for the better. If you look at Secretary Nielsen, she is second to none in cybersecurity. That’s where her expertise lies. Unfortunately, she did not have that experience in border security,” he said. “So we elevated the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, who had a career at CBP, to face the problems that the DHS is looking at in the face right now, and that is border security.”

McAleenan recently warned that the immigration system had reached the “breaking point,” calling the migrant surge on the southern frontier “unprecedented.”



Alex Jones breaks down the globalists’ plan to destroy borders worldwide before bringing in their New World Order under complete totalitarian rule, and the United States is the biggest, strongest bordered nation that stands in the way of the globalists bringing all the people of the world into domesticated submission under their race-based communist system.

Dan Lyman:

Source: InfoWars

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Michigan State edges Duke to reach Final Four

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-East Regional-Michigan State vs Duke
Mar 31, 2019; Washington, DC, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Kenny Goins (25) dunks the ball during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils in the championship game of the east regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

April 1, 2019

Kenny Goins hit a go-ahead, 3-point basket with 34.3 seconds remaining as second-seeded Michigan State eliminated top-seeded Duke 68-67 in a classic East Region final Sunday at Capital One Arena in Washington.

After Goins’ basket, Duke’s RJ Barrett was short on a 3-pointer, but the ball went out of bounds off the Spartans with 8.4 seconds remaining.

Barrett was fouled on a drive at the 5.2-second mark. He missed the first and made the second.

Duke never got the ball back.

Michigan State (32-6) meets third-seeded Texas Tech in Saturday’s Final Four semifinal in Minneapolis.

Cassius Winston scored 20 points and Xavier Tillman had 19 points for the Spartans. Goins finished with 10 points, including 2-for-8 on 3s.

Zion Williamson’s 24 points and 14 rebounds and Barrett’s 21 points paced Duke (32-6), with its freshman-laden star power unable to pull off another dramatic victory. Javin DeLaurier provided 10 points and 11 rebounds.

DeLaurier matched his season-high point total, reaching double figures for the first time since Dec. 8 against Yale.

Duke wiped out a four-point hole with seven straight points down the stretch.

The teams staged a back-and-forth second half.

Winston scored on a runner and Tillman added a three-point play in transition for a 63-59 edge.

Barrett’s 3-pointer with 2:29 left represented the 15th lead change as the Blue Devils took a 64-63.

Williamson scored on a drive on Duke’s next possession. Tillman’s lay-in cut it to 66-65 with 1:17 remaining.

Barrett missed at the other end, with Michigan State calling timeout with 43.6 seconds left.

Michigan State led for most of the game’s first 10 minutes before Duke’s 12-0 run sent the Blue Devils to a 30-21 lead. Barrett had 12 points by that stage.

But after Williamson was called for his second foul, the Spartans scored the next 13 points to lead 34-30 at halftime. That meant Duke had a scoring drought of 5:23 to end the half.

The run became 15-0 before Duke scored on its second possession of the second half.

Michigan State was 2-for-11 on first-half 3s, but Duke was only 3-for-10. The Blue Devils were mostly hurt by 10 turnovers before the break.

Freshman Cam Reddish was the first reserve used by Duke. He missed Friday night’s game with what was described as a knee ailment. Reddish had eight points on 2-of-8 shooting.

Duke had won the last seven meetings with Michigan State.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A government spokesman declined to comment.

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

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

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

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

Only for them to surge after the vote.

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

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

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

Source: OANN

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