FILE PHOTO: Workers assemble vehicles on the assembly line of the SEAT car factory in Martorell, near Barcelona, Spain, October 31, 2018. REUTERS/Albert Gea//File Photo
April 16, 2019
By Belén Carreño and Ingrid Melander
MADRID (Reuters) – For the first time in a decade, Spain’s economy is taking a back seat in an election campaign as the main contenders, switching tack with a growth run entering its sixth year, focus on winning voters’ hearts rather than filling their wallets.
That suggests whichever parties take office after the April 28 ballot are unlikely to shake up economic policy – a source of worry for some analysts and business leaders who believe unconcern could lapse into complacency.
Voters say unemployment, still hovering around 14 percent, remains a major problem, and the pension system and labor market are overdue for structural reform.
However, the jobless rate has nearly halved from its 2013 peak, and growth in the euro zone’s fourth largest economy has consistently outpaced the bloc’s average since shortly after it exited recession in the same year.
That has encouraged the main candidates in Spain’s most open election in decades not to dwell on the need for further reform.
Instead, they are focusing on a range of often emotive social issues, including Catalonia’s independence drive, women’s rights, Francisco Franco’s legacy and the depopulation of small villages.
Part of that shift is also down to the rapid emergence of a populist party Vox which, barring a single deputy some 40 years ago, looks certain to become the first far-right party to sit in the lower house of parliament since Franco’s dictatorship ended in 1975.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal, far from focusing on the economy during campaigning, has criticized former conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy – who built his reputation dragging Spain out of recession – for doing so at the expense of other issues.
“He forgot that it was the nation that was truly at risk,” Abascal told Antena 3 TV last week, in a nod to the political crisis that erupted in Catalonia in 2017, when Rajoy imposed direct rule on the province after it unilaterally declared independence.
While that crisis rumbles on, the IMF expects the Spanish economy to grow 2.1 percent this year, well above its 1.3 percent euro zone forecast, boosted by domestic demand, public spending and ultra-low interest rates.
In a poll by the state-run Center for Sociological Studies (CIS), voters cited unemployment as their main concern, but this is not reflected in the public debate.
One reason, said Federico Steinberg, economist at Madrid’s Universidad Autonoma, is that many of those out of work tend not to vote, and candidates want to avoid worrying those in jobs by talking about deep and possibly painful structural reforms.
“No party wants to talk about the fact that the reforms they are going to make would generate losers,” he said.
JOBS MISMATCH
Some say this approach is shoring up problems for later.
“After the elections, we need to flee from short-term measures and promote a reformist agenda with a long-term vision, inclusive growth and social cohesion,” Santander chairman Ana Botin told shareholders on Friday.
Economy Minister Nadia Calvino sees one priority as tackling a mismatch between jobs and the skills the unemployed can offer, she told Reuters in an interview last month.
For now, however, what little economic content has appeared on campaign platforms has generally sent two simpler messages – changing the tax base and safeguarding pensions.
Because one in four voters is a retiree, all parties have tried to bill themselves as the main defender of the pension system. But while the right has said it wants to cut taxes sharply, the left aims to increase public spending across the board.
None have explained in detail how their proposals would impact the public deficit, which Spain has given a priority to narrowing in recent years.
According to calculations by Ignacio Conde-Ruiz, analyst at the Fedea economic think-tank, they would all widen the budget gap.
Out on a limb, Vox has dismissed Spain’s pension system as a pyramid scheme, and proposed creating a new system from scratch.
But with Vox’s chances of playing a major role in government limited, analysts doubt the next administration will produce any economic big bangs.
Goldman Sachs believes all possible coalition governments after April 28 would be committed to the European project and a competitive market economy.
“As such, changes to economic policies are likely to be more incremental than transformational… A limited further reform agenda implies some risks of complacency,” its analysts wrote in a note.
(Reporting by Belen Carreno; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Additional reporting by Jesus Aguado; Editing by Mark Bendeich and John Stonestreet)
A Canadian dollar coin, commonly known as the "Loonie", is pictured in this illustration picture taken in Toronto January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
February 20, 2019
TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar strengthened on Wednesday to its highest in two weeks against the greenback, posting the biggest rise among its peers, as global stocks were boosted by hopes of progress in trade talks between the United States and China.
World stocks notched a four-month high on U.S.-China trade talks optimism, with a dovish backdrop at major central banks also helping push markets back into the black.
Canada is a major producer of commodities, including oil, so its economy could benefit from improved prospects for global trade.
U.S. crude oil futures were down 0.1 percent at $56.05 a barrel on Wednesday, after the U.S. government said shale output would rise to a record next month.
Still, oil has rallied more than 30 percent since hitting an 18-month low in December.
Data on Tuesday from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Reuters calculations showed speculators had nudged up bearish bets on the Canadian dollar.
As of Jan. 29, net short positions had increased to 56,390 contracts from 56,096 in the prior week.
At 10:05 a.m. (1505 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.2 percent higher at 1.3181 to the greenback, or 75.87 U.S. cents, the biggest gain of G10 currencies.
The currency touched its strongest intraday level since Feb. 6 at 1.3171.
Gains for the loonie came as Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta said it has leased 4,400 rail cars in a multibillion-dollar move to clear a glut of crude that depressed prices.
The Bank of Canada said last month it expects investment in the energy sector to contract because of low oil prices and production curtailments in Alberta.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is due to speak on monetary policy on Thursday, while Canadian retail sales data for December is due on Friday.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed across a steeper yield curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries. The two-year rose 0.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.771 percent and the 10-year declined 6 Canadian cents to yield 1.897 percent.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by David Gregorio)
US president Donald Trump has called on Venezuelan military to accept opposition leader Guaido’s offer of amnesty.
US president Donald Trump also claimed that Washington seeks a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela, noting however that all options remain open.
The US president also claimed that the Venezuelan military officers who are supporting Maduro are risking their future and lives.
The US has officially recognized Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. Some have hinted at military action, but will that be necessary?
“There are members of the Venezuelan military still barely supporting this failed dictatorship. They are risking their future, they are risking their lives,” Trump said on Monday in his remarks to the Venezuelan American Community.
“If you choose this path [support Maduro], you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything,” the US president added.
Venezuela has been in a state of political crisis for some time now, which deteriorated on January 23, when the opposition leader Guaido declared himself interim president, disputing President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election last year.
While the United States has openly backed Guaido, the European Union did not issue a joint statement following suit because the motion was vetoed by Italy, according to a diplomatic source.
Despite this, however, many European countries have individually voiced their support for the Venezuelan opposition leader.
Russia, China, Mexico, among other nations, voiced support for Maduro, who, in turn, accused Washington of orchestrating an attempted coup with Guaido’s help.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes joins Owen Shroyer in studio to discuss solutions for President Trump.
Actor Jussie Smollett turned himself in to police Thursday morning, a Chicago police spokesman said, on a felony charge of disorderly conduct in filing a false police report.
“Jussie Smollet [sic] is under arrest and in custody of detectives,” Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted just before 5:30 a.m. Guglielmi confirmed to NBC Chicago that Smollett surrendered to police at around 5 a.m.
The “Empire” star was charged Wednesday with the class four felony, which carries a sentence ranging from probation to up to three years in prison, according to Chicago police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest,” Guglielmi had said in an earlier statement on Wednesday.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson was scheduled to address the case at 9 a.m. Smollett was expected to appear in bond court at 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
“Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked,” Smollett’s legal team said in a statement Wednesday. “Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.”
Chicago police have confirmed that attorneys for Smollett had discussions with prosecutors, but details surrounding the dialogue were not released and Guglielmi declined to confirm reports that subpoenas had been issued for Smollett’s phone and bank records.
Police said earlier this week that they wanted to re-interview Smollett in their investigation into an alleged attack he said he suffered in the city’s Streeterville neighborhood three weeks prior.
Authorities said new information “shifted” their investigation of the reported assault, in which Smollett told authorities he was physically attacked as he was returning home from an early morning stop at a Subway restaurant. He said two masked men shouted racial, anti-gay slurs and “This is MAGA country!” as they looped a rope around his neck and poured an “unknown chemical substance” on him before running away.
Detectives questioned two brothers about the attack but released them late Friday without charges, Guglielmi said Saturday. Police said they had gleaned new information from their interrogation of the two men and they were no longer suspects.
Surveillance video taken at 10 a.m. on Jan. 28 appears to show brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo shopping at Beauty House at 1041 W. Wilson Ave. in the Uptown neighborhood.
The brothers can be seen making their way to the check out counter and purchasing several items, including two ski masks, gloves and baseball caps. The video then shows them walking to their vehicle.
The items are of interest because police said Smollett told them the attackers were wearing masks. The security guard working that day told NBC 5 he realized the brothers had been in the store last week and that he had helped them find the items they were looking for.
“I know it’s them. I showed them the mask, we have them on video purchasing the mask. So there’s no doubt in my mind,” Montage Silas said.
The brothers were interviewed, arrested and later released without charges in connection to the alleged attack. Chicago police then said the brothers were being considered cooperating witnesses against Smollett.
A source familiar with the investigation told NBC’s Andy Blankstein the investigation has shifted to whether Smollett paid the two men to fake the attack.
“This has been very traumatizing for them as well as everyone who knows this story and has heard this story,” said Gloria Schmidt, attorney for the Osundairo brothers.
Guglielmi declined to comment on published reports that police believe Smollett staged the assault or that a grand jury may hear evidence in the case.
“We’re not confirming, denying or commenting on anything until we can talk to him and we can corroborate some information that we’ve gotten,” he said.
On Tuesday, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx recused herself from the investigation into the alleged attack with little explanation.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the decision to recuse herself was made to address potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in the case,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
A statement from 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Entertainment issued Wednesday – before the charges were announced – said that despite the ongoing case, Smollett’s character was “not being written out of the show.”
“Jussie Smollett continues to be a consummate professional on set and as we have previously stated, he is not being written out of the show,” Fox said of Smollett.
People enjoy the sunset in front of a container ship at the Elbe river in Hamburg Germany March 20, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
February 22, 2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – German exports rose by as much as imports in the fourth quarter, data showed on Friday, contributing to an economic stagnation in Europe’s largest economy.
The Federal Statistics Office said that both exports and imports rose by 0.7 percent on the quarter, resulting in net trade making no contribution to growth.
(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; editing by Thomas Seythal)
FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of the Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
April 9, 2019
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Facebook has revised the terms related to its users’ data following demands from the European Commission and consumer authorities, including taking responsibility when data has been mishandled by third parties.
The changes clearly explain how the company uses consumers’ data to develop profiling activities and target advertising to finance itself, the EU executive said in a statement.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Francesco Guarascio)
Alaa Salah, a Sudanese protester whose video gone viral and make her an icon for the mass anti-government protests, makes victory sign as she is surrounded by protesters as she tours in front of the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan, April 20, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
April 23, 2019
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A Sudanese woman who has come to symbolize for many the protests that have forced out former president Omar al-Bashir said her country’s revolution was far from over and sought to remove what she called a regime of “murder and tyranny” in its entirety.
Alaa Salah rose to prominence after a video of her addressing protesters from a car roof at the beginning of April went viral. Women have played a prominent role in protests that began on Dec. 19, often forming a majority among demonstrators.
Sudan’s military ousted Bashir on April 11 and formed a transitional military council to run the country for up to two years before elections.
Bashir and some other former senior officials have been jailed, and the military council has announced a series of anti-corruption measures, but protesters are pushing for faster, deeper change.
“Our demands are related to the removal of a corrupt regime from its roots… It destroyed Sudan. Corruption has spread (everywhere). A regime of murder and tyranny,” Salah told Reuters in an interview.
“We are currently in the squares because Bashir is part of the regime, and our idea and goal is the fall of the regime as a whole,” she said.
“We want a better Sudan, a democratic state, one that judges all in accordance with the law, without favoritism.”
“Our revolution is continuing until our demands are met.”
Salah said that when she climbed on the car she was reciting a poem by Sudanese poet Azhari Mohamed Ali, entitled “The bullet doesn’t kill. What kills is the silence of people”.
“It is an inspirational poem,” said Salah. “Its words are a very accurate description of the Sudanese street.”
Salah has become known as a “kendaka”, a name historically given to Nubian queens in ancient Sudan.
“The Nubian queen was brave, strong and wise,” said Salah, who said her nickname should apply to all female protesters.
“All of those struggling in the street and all the squares are kendakas.”
(Reporting by Bulent Usta and Omer Berberoglu; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones)
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.
News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.
The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.
“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.
“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.
British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.
Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.
“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”
Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.
There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.
(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
April 26, 2019
SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.
Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.
Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.
Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.
Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.
Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.
A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.
The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
April 26, 2019
(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.
The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.
Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.
Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
April 26, 2019
By James Oliphant
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.
In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.
The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.
But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.
“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”
Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.
Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.
Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.
“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”
Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”
Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”
PAST VS. FUTURE
Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.
Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.
Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.
“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.
Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.
Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.
“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.
Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.
But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.
Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.
“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”
‘ONE OF US’
Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.
The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.
Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.
“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”
Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.
“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”
(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
April 26, 2019
MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.
In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.
He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”
Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.
Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.
The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.
Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.
The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.
“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.
The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.
(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
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