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Former top prosecutor to run for president in Guatemala

A prominent former Guatemalan prosecutor was nominated Sunday to run for president by the Seed Movement party.

Sixty-three-year-old Thelma Aldana was Guatemala's top prosecutor from 2014 to 2018. During that time, she jailed then-President Otto Perez Molina and most of his Cabinet on corruption charges. Perez Molina resigned in 2015.

Prosecutors said last week that they have opened a corruption investigation into Aldana. If she is arrested or charged, it could effectively prevent her from running in the June election.

Prosecution spokeswoman Julia Barrera said the investigation was related to a case of irregular hiring of personnel.

Source: Fox News World

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ECB to keep policy accommodative until inflation recovers: Villeroy

FILE PHOTO: ECB policymaker Villeroy de Galhau, who is also governor of the French central bank, attends the Paris Europlace International Financial Forum in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who is also governor of the French central bank, attends the Paris Europlace International Financial Forum in Tokyo, Japan, November 19, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

April 15, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is committed to keeping monetary policy loose until inflation returns to its target, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday.

Villeroy, who is also governor of the Bank of France, said that euro zone inflation was expected to ease over the course of this year before it begins to gradually recover.

“We are clearly determined to maintain an ample degree of monetary accommodation for as long as necessary to reach our target of inflation below but close to 2 percent,” Villeroy told a conference sponsored by the Paris Europlace New York.

The Eurostat European statistics agency estimated euro zone inflation eased in March to 1.4%, while core inflation, which excludes volatile items like energy, slipped to 0.8%.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Writing by Leigh Thomas in PARIS; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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When it comes to disclosing sponsors, your Google Assistant may be mute

FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich
FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

April 1, 2019

By Paresh Dave

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – On stage at an investor conference last month, Google’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler identified a vexing challenge for the company’s most prized app: its virtual assistant.

Responding to user searches out loud through Google Assistant is not ideal for generating revenue, Schindler suggested.

When results are visible, not merely oral, “you have room for advertising, of course,” said Schindler, whose company grosses an estimated $70 billion annually through ads above search results.

The Alphabet Inc company declined to elaborate on Schindler’s remarks. But Google’s conundrum is one facing several big tech companies whose users increasingly seek help from voice-enabled speakers and gadgets: how to deliver greater convenience while still generating the ad revenue that traditionally has funded free searches.

The question is most acute for Google, which holds the world’s biggest search advertising business.

So far, consumers generally get a brief answer from virtual assistants without the disturbance of ads. And tech companies have not shown how they would include the “Sponsored” or “Ad” disclaimers that regulators in the United States and elsewhere require with paid-for search results.

One Google Assistant feature already is close to violating disclosure rules, according to five advertising attorneys contacted by Reuters. Google contends it is in compliance.

The feature recommends plumbers and other local home service providers without disclosing that the results draw from a curated database mainly composed of companies that joined a Google marketing program.

“It’s not a completely clean recommendation,” said Michelle Cohen, an attorney with expertise in marketing rules at Ifrah Law in Washington, D.C. “If there’s a financial commitment, you’re supposed to disclose it.”

Conversing with assistants is routine for millions of people globally, whether on bedside alarm clocks, car audio systems or even high-end headphones. More than 1 billion such devices have Google Assistant, 100 million Amazon.com Inc’s Alexa and at least 1 billion Apple Inc’s Siri, according to the companies and estimates.

Regulators avoid stifling new technologies, said Richard Lawson, partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and former consumer protection director in Florida’s attorney general’s office. But he said, authorities will still ask, “How do you convey meaningful disclosures?”

At the conference, Schindler said ads on Google Assistant would be more “interesting” when responses are shown on a nearby screen, like a TV, smartphone, laptop or smart speaker with a display.

“Then we’re exactly in the world that we deeply understand,” Schindler said, with moneymaking options “very similar” to traditional search.

NEW SEARCH TECHNOLOGIES

The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates deceptive business practices in the United States, has long required search engines to inform users in a “noticeable and understandable” fashion when results are connected to financial relationships. That is why consumers see “Ad” or “Sponsored” labels next to the first few Google results on screens.

New search services that “talk” to consumers are not exempt from “the long-standing principle of making advertising distinguishable,” the FTC said in letters to Google and other companies in 2013.

Consumers often complain to the commission about potential violations, and it prods companies into changing practices by threatening fines if the issues persist.

The FTC has not received complaints about ads on Google Assistant, according to results from a Freedom of Information Act request. And the agency declined to comment on whether it is scrutinizing any virtual assistants, though last year it charged a small search engine for prospective college students that included paid results without warning.

GOOGLE’S CHALLENGE

Google users have come to expect results from any relevant source on the web, except when using specialized tools like Google News or Google Flights that have a narrowed set of sources.

In 2017, Google Assistant adopted a specialty tool, Local Services, which offers only vetted businesses when U.S. users search for domestic help such as plumbers and locksmiths.

Results come from a marketing program, known as Google Guarantee, in which members are licensed, insured and clear of legal issues, according to Google. It refunds consumers up to $2,000 if members botch a job.

Membership is free, but businesses need it to buy Local Services search ads from Google. And guaranteed businesses largely do buy those for queries like “plumber,” Reuters found.

Google gets paid when users contact providers through the ads, which are labeled “Sponsored” on Google.com.

But when Google Assistant responds to “plumber” queries with the same “Google Guaranteed” options, the assistant does not offer any disclaimer or further explanation.

Google said in a statement that the results are not labeled as ads “because Google isn’t paid for these results” when delivered on the Assistant rather than Google.com.

The advertising attorneys said users should be informed that Google Assistant results, even if not paid for, stem from a filtered database in which many businesses landed because they wanted to buy ads.

“Disclosing ‘many of the recommended providers may participate in our referral network’…would be relevant and appropriate,” said Cohen, the Washington, D.C., attorney.

In some cities, Google Assistant includes businesses vetted by partner search services HomeAdvisor and Porch. It does not mention that those services charge some businesses for customer leads.

Disclaimers vary in other types of searches, depending on how they are delivered. Google.com answers “flight to Los Angeles” with upcoming flights labeled as “Sponsored,” and users who click on the label would learn that Google “may be compensated” by some of its data sources.

But Google Assistant’s “Sponsored” label does not link to additional information. On smart speakers, the assistant reads only the lowest price without naming an airline.

It says nothing about sponsors.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell, Marla Dickerson and Julie Marquis)

Source: OANN

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US-North Korea roller coaster ties add to summit uncertainty

The roller coaster of U.S.-North Korea relations revs up again this week when President Donald Trump meets for a second time with Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Trump has gone from threatening North Korea with "fire and fury" to saying he and Kim are in love. Kim once called Trump a dotard and now is pledging to denuclearize his nation and turn his energy toward developing his country's economy.

The ups and downs in the relationship have rattled Americans and allies alike. And the leaders' erratic history is contributing to uncertainty heading into this week's talks in Vietnam.

Source: Fox News World

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Rediscovering America: A Presidents Day Quiz On U.S. Presidents

Presidents Day, which became an official holiday in 1971 after an executive order by then President Richard Nixon, is February 18.

The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of the American presidency and its place in the constitutional order.

1. President Thomas Jefferson delivered the president’s annual message to Congress — what we now call the State of the Union Address — in writing, starting a precedent that was followed until this president delivered the message in person to Congress, a practice that continues today.

A: Abraham Lincoln

B: Theodore Roosevelt

C: Woodrow Wilson

D: Franklin D. Roosevelt

2. Which of the three branches of government did early Americans consider to be the most powerful and therefore the “most dangerous”?

A: The legislative branch

B: The executive branch

C: The judicial branch

D: All of the above

3. Which president demonstrated the power of the president to determine foreign policy by declaring that the United States was neutral in the war between France and England?

A: George Washington

B. John Adams

C. Thomas Jefferson

D. James Madison

4. The U.S. Constitution states that the president is “Commander in Chief,” yet gives Congress the power to “declare war.” Which president has argued that the president has the constitutional authority to send American troops to use military force abroad without first getting approval from Congress?

A: Harry Truman

B: George H.W. Bush

C: Barack Obama

D: All of the above

5. Which document is most responsible for laying out the process by which we nominate presidential candidates today?

A: Article II of the U.S. Constitution

B: The Brownlow Committee Report of 1937

C: The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

D: The McGovern-Fraser Commission Report of 1971

6. Who was the first vice president to become president by virtue of the death of the elected president?

A: Martin Van Buren

B: John Tyler

C: Andrew Johnson

D: Theodore Roosevelt

7. Who is the only president to have been formally censured by a chamber of Congress?

A: James Madison

B: Andrew Jackson

C: Richard Nixon

D: Bill Clinton

8. Which president was impeached for removing the Secretary of War?

A: John Adams

B: Andrew Jackson

C: Andrew Johnson

D: Grover Cleveland

9. Which Supreme Court case has settled the question of whether the president may initiate a war with another nation?

A: United States vs. Curtiss Wright (1936)

B: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. vs. Sawyer (1952)

C: Boumediene v. Bush (2008)

D: None of the above because this has not been settled by the Supreme Court

10: Which president suspended habeas corpus?

A: Abraham Lincoln

B: Franklin D. Roosevelt

C: George W. Bush

D: All of the above

* * *

Answers: 1-C, 2-A, 3-A, 4-D, 5-D, 6-B, 7-B, 8-C, 9-D, 10-A



President Trump has tweeted he believes there was a “planned illegal act” against him.

Source: InfoWars

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Mexican president to help ‘El Chapo’s’ sisters visit him in U.S.

FILE PHOTO: Undated handout photograph of drug lord Joaquin
FILE PHOTO: Undated handout photograph of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman distributed by Mexico's Attorney General's Office July 13, 2015. Courtesy PGR - Attorney General's Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

February 22, 2019

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday he had ordered Mexican authorities to help two sisters of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman visit the drug lord in the United States following his conviction for narcotics trafficking.

During his regular morning news conference, Lopez Obrador said he had received a written request via a lawyer from Guzman’s mother to provide “legal support” to the kingpin, and to help his sisters get visas to visit him in the United States.

“Like any mother, she was asking me to help her son,” Lopez Obrador told reporters.

“I gave instructions to facilitate everything so the sisters can go to the United States, and to help them in accordance with the law, and the rules of that country so they can visit him, or be in contact,” he said.

The letter was delivered to Lopez Obrador during a trip to Guzman’s home town earlier this month, a rare visit to the area by a president, after a jury in New York found the capo guilty of drug trafficking and other charges.

The veteran leftist, who took office as president at the start of December, said that the request for legal support was in the hands of the relevant Mexican authorities.

The 61-year-old Guzman, who is due to be sentenced in June, escaped from maximum security prisons in 2001 and 2015 in Mexico before his third and final capture in January 2016.

A year later, Mexico extradited him to the United States on the eve of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Guzman rose to prominence as the boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, which security experts and counternarcotics officials long described as the most powerful outfit in the trafficking of drugs to the United States.

Trump has justified his repeated demands for a wall to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border with the need to stop drugs and illegal immigrants entering the United States.

Lopez Obrador, who has sought to avoid conflict with Trump over the wall, is exploring the legalization of some drugs. During his election campaign he floated the idea of granting amnesty to perpetrators of less serious drug-related offenses.

(Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Dave Graham; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Source: OANN

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Police: Peeping Tom suspect with shotgun killed by officer

Police in Georgia have identified an armed man shot to death by one of the officers who responded to a "Peeping Tom" call.

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department said in a news release that the man was shot Saturday night. The victim who had made the call identified a suspect and officers went to the man's residence to try to contact him. The release posted on Facebook says one officer fired after the man "brandished a shotgun at the officers."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the man was identified Sunday as 63-year-old Carlton Steve Brooks. Athens police have called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate the shooting. An autopsy has been scheduled. The officer who shot Brooks has been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the department's policy.

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)

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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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