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Mozambique city battled climate change, then came a cyclone

Long before Cyclone Idai roared in and tore apart Mozambique's seaside city of Beira, the mayor dreamed of protecting his people from climate change.

It would be a huge challenge. Large parts of the city of 500,000 residents are below sea level on a coastline that experts warn is one of the world's most vulnerable to global warming's rising waters.

With the World Bank's support, a $120 million project was approved in 2012 to help spare the city's fading Art Deco center and makeshift slums from rising waters. An 11-kilometer (seven-mile) system of drainage canals and water retention basins now snakes from the beach deep into boggy neighborhoods.

It meant "the end of suffering of a whole population," Mayor Daviz Simango declared as the project's first phase was completed last year.

But the cyclone that struck on March 14 brought a whole new level of pain to Beira, with images of destruction to chill any seaside nation already fearing for its survival.

"We were really well prepared for disasters like flooding," Simango told The Associated Press, pausing from his work directing the disaster response in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, Munhava.

The new system worked perfectly when there was flooding two months ago, said the mayor, a civil engineer who at times personally oversaw its construction. Residents told him they no longer needed to sleep on their tables.

Then "God changed his plan and brought a cyclone," Simango said. Packing winds of some 240 kilometers (150 miles) an hour, the storm ripped apart structures built to withstand less than half that intensity. "This cyclone destroyed everything we built for more than 100 years."

It was painful watching the cyclone veer toward Beira, said World Bank staffers involved in the project who kept in touch with people on the ground until the storm severed power and communications.

With Idai, "suddenly we have a cyclone category 4 hitting, and it's very vulnerable," Michel Matera, a senior urban specialist with the World Bank, told the AP. "Yes, we were doing the right thing but it was not enough."

Long and narrow with a 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) Indian Ocean coastline, Mozambique is on the frontline of fighting climate change in Africa, where most nations have little infrastructure and funding to cope. Rapidly growing coastal cities like Beira are especially at risk.

The mayor called it unjust that African nations face some of the toughest challenges while contributing little to global warming. People in rich, industrialized nations produce much of the carbon dioxide and other gases that are warming the planet by burning the most coal, diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.

But while Simango believes the international community should help African nations, he stressed the continent's leaders must do their part to fight graft and not pocket the aid.

"Sometimes we get money, resources but the corruption kills us," he said. "We must be more prepared as leaders, doing our best to use every cent to save lives."

Ordinary Mozambicans may not be familiar with the science behind climate change. But the Beira residents who pick their way through inundated streets, and the longtime fishermen who keenly watch the sea and sky, have noticed changes.

They note that local temperatures that once topped out at around 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) now reach a sweltering 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). That warming air can hold more moisture, experts say, meaning the potential for heavier rains .

For fisherman Nueve Savimbi, who stood with a bamboo fishing pole where Beira's new concrete drainage system meets the sea, it took the raging storm to open his eyes.

"I've heard about climate change but didn't believe it until I saw the cyclone," he said. "Without this (drainage system), there would be flooding here. But there is still work to do. Channels like this should be built elsewhere."

Without extensive study, scientists cannot directly link a single weather event like Cyclone Idai to the changing climate, but global warming is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme weather events, as well as droughts, floods and fires.

Mozambique ranks third among African nations in vulnerability to weather-related disasters, behind Somalia and Madagascar, and studies say climate change will make those threats more intense and unpredictable , according to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, a World Bank-managed grant-funding partnership.

For residents recovering from the cyclone and those watching with alarm from afar — the storm hit as Africa Climate week unfolded across the continent in Ghana, another vulnerable coastal nation — the time has come to treat climate change as an emergency.

"Cyclone Idai was an uncommonly fierce and prolonged storm, yet another alarm bell about the dangers of climate change, especially in vulnerable, at-risk countries," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday. "Such events are becoming more frequent, more severe and devastating and more widespread, and this will only get worse if we do not act now."

The world must deliver on the $100 billion pledged as part of the Paris climate agreement to help Mozambique and other developing nations build climate resilience, Guterres said. Countries around the world, rich and poor, had more than $2.2 trillion in economic losses from climate-related disasters between 1998 and 2017, the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said in October.

In Beira, it is too early to calculate the cyclone's toll, whether in economic losses or even in lives.

Some residents say they believe an exodus will begin, with people leaving the port city for higher, safer places. Others argue that eventually, there will be nowhere else to go.

"Other districts have flooding," said Julia Castigo, who stood on the beach watching survivors arrive by boat from the badly hit district of Buzi. "The flooding will find us."

Another onlooker, Paolo Fernando Machata said a major flood nearly two decades ago didn't reach his village, but this one swallowed it. He spent three days stranded in flood waters, he said, pointing to his bandaged, swollen feet.

"I'd never heard about climate change," he said. "What I know is, things are changing. If cyclones like this keep happening, we will lose this town and the people in it, and our society."

Still, that society has already shown flashes of resilience amid the destruction. Beira's seaside bars have reopened, pulsing with generator-powered music. Muddy markets bustle again, and shop owners have cleared away broken glass and reopened. Some classes have resumed as children in bright uniforms now share school buildings with displaced people.

From the international relief operations base at Beira's airport, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, deputy director of the United Nations humanitarian operation, was frank. "I think the world realizes we haven't done enough about climate change," he told journalists. Disasters "are getting worse around the world. All of us must be prepared."

For Beira's mayor, the time to take climate change seriously has come. Standing in a still-sodden neighborhood, he urged U.S. President Donald Trump to come to Mozambique and see for himself.

"I think he is living in another world," Simango said of Trump's expressions of doubt about global warming. "I've seen by my own eyes the rising of the sea level. I've seen by my own eyes people suffering. I've seen flooding. Climate change is a reality. Climate change is bringing us trouble."

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Source: Fox News World

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Two weeks before India starts voting, Modi predicts easy victory

FILE PHOTO: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses an election campaign rally in Meerut
FILE PHOTO: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses an election campaign rally in Meerut in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

March 29, 2019

By Subrat Patnaik

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday his ruling coalition would increase its majority in India’s upcoming election, despite some independent analysts suggesting it could disappear due to discontent over lack of jobs and depressed farm incomes.

Involving around 900 million voters, India’s general election will be the world’s largest democratic exercise, with the vote taking place in seven phases between April 11 and May 19.

Results will be announced on May 23, and in an interview with Republic Bharat television channel, Modi predicted an easy victory.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance partners will get more seats than the previous election,” Modi said.

In 2014, Modi led his Hindu nationalist BJP and its allies to the biggest majority scored by any political group in nearly 30 years, as a Congress Party led government paid the price for a faltering economy.

During Modi’s tenure the economy has gathered strength, but growth has been uneven, leaving large sections of the population unhappy.

Though his approval ratings still trail Modi’s, rival Rahul Gandhi has worked hard to revive Congress and forge partnerships with regional parties.

Up until a few weeks ago most opinion polls were expecting a close run race, but over the past month, Modi’s BJP has benefited from nationalist fervor unleashed by a flare up in tensions with neighboring Pakistan.

Modi dismissed Gandhi’s chances this time round, predicting the opposition would have to wait another five years to mount a serious challenge.

“The ‘Modi vs who’ question could arise in 2024, but in 2019 the citizens have made up their mind and are not looking for anyone else.”

As yet, no major survey has emerged measuring the impact on voter intentions from the upsurge in tensions with Pakistan.

The Indian opposition accuses Modi of using national security to score political points, especially after he addressed the nation on Wednesday to announce that India made a space breakthrough by shooting down one of its satellites in space using an anti-satellite missile.

During the interview, Modi again swiped Pakistan over a

militant attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary police last month in the disputed Kashmir region.

The Indian prime minister said he would not enter talks with Islamabad until “the world sees that Pakistan has taken action against terrorism.”

Pakistan has denied any role in the attack and has said it is ready to hold talks with India to address the core issue of Kashmir.

($1 = 69.1490 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: OANN

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Giants acquire Twins’ Reed among OF moves

MLB: Spring Training-Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays
Mar 17, 2019; Dunedin, FL, USA; Minnesota Twins left fielder Michael Reed (30) hits a sacrifice fly during the second inning of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Dunedin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

March 23, 2019

The San Francisco Giants acquired outfielder Michael Reed on Saturday from the Minnesota Twins for outfielder John Andreoli and cash. Andreoli will report to Triple-A Rochester, the team added in the announcement.

Reed, who was claimed off waivers by the Twins in October, appeared in eight games this spring, hitting .278 (5-for-18) with one home run and four RBI.

In his major league career, the 26-year-old Reed has batted .229 in 22 games, including with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015-16 and the Atlanta Braves last year. He batted .342 with a .453 on-base percentage between Triple-A Gwinnett and Double-A Mississippi in 2018.

Andreoli, 28, began last season with the Seattle Mariners, then was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles in August. He appeared in a combined 26 games in the major leagues last year, batting .230. Drafted in 2011 by the Chicago Cubs, Andreoli has appeared in 773 career minor league games, hitting .270 with 37 home runs and 256 RBI.

The Giants also released two other outfielders — Cameron Maybin and Matt Joyce. Maybin, a 12-year major league veteran who joined the Giants on Feb. 18 when he signed as a minor league free agent, was arrested last week on suspicion of DUI in Scottsdale, Ariz. Joyce, who had reached agreement on a minor league deal Wednesday with San Francisco, was released by the Cleveland Indians earlier in the week.

Last season with the Miami Marlins and Seattle Mariners, Maybin batted a combined .249 with four homers, 28 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 129 games.

Also on Saturday, the Giants acquired Michael Yastrzemski — the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski — to try to improve their outfield. The 28-year-old player has spent six seasons in the minor leagues, including the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles in 2018.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Sri Lanka’s wartime defense chief sued in U.S. over alleged torture and murder

Sri Lanka's Secretary of Defense Rajapaksa listens during a news conference in Colombo
Sri Lanka's Secretary of Defense Gotabaya Rajapaksa listens during a news conference in Colombo January 24, 2013. The Sri Lankan military should be given more training opportunities by the United States, Rajapaksa said on Thursday according to local media. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte (SRI LANKA - Tags: HEADSHOT MILITARY POLITICS)

April 10, 2019

By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who oversaw the crushing of Tamil Tiger rebels under his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rule a decade ago, is being sued in two cases in the United States for his alleged role in torture and murder, according to a lawyer and court documents.

Gotabaya, popular among many Sri Lankans for his role in winning a 26-year war that ended in 2009, has expressed interest in running for president in elections later this year.

Since the end of the war Gotabaya has been accused by rights groups of multiple crimes during the civil war, including extrajudicial killings. He has rejected the allegations.

Milinda Rajapaksha, Gotabaya’s spokesman, said the former defense secretary has yet to receive “any official document or notice” on the cases.

“We see this as pure political revenge, part of propaganda designed to tarnish his image by vested interests for their own political mileage,” Rajapaksha told Reuters, without elaborating.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld and human rights lawyer Scott Gilmore, filed a civil damages case in California this week against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor, Roy Samathanam.

The case alleges that Samathanam was detained in the capital Colombo in September 2007 by the Terrorism Investigation Division of the Sri Lanka police, who reported directly to Gotabaya, and was physically and psychologically tortured and forced to sign a false confession before being released in August 2010.

“Samathanam had no options left to seek justice in Sri Lanka or at the United Nations,” Gilmore told Reuters. “That’s why we brought the case in the United States when we found Gotabaya Rajapaksa returning to California.”

Gotabaya, a dual U.S.-Sri Lanka citizen, is planning to renounce his U.S. citizenship as required by Sri Lankan law to run for president, his close allies have told Reuters. His spokesman did not confirm this.

The case, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, was brought under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which gives torture victims legal redress in U.S. courts, Hausfeld said in a statement.

A statement from ITJP said that Gotabaya was formally served with notice of the case in a supermarket parking lot in Pasadena, California on Sunday after being tracked by private investigators.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages on April 4 in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father, documents seen by Reuters showed.

In her complaint, Ahimsa said that after the murder of her father in January 2009 Gotabaya and his allies obstructed her “efforts to seek justice in Sri Lanka by tampering with witnesses and engaging in a pattern of coercion and intimidation”.

Wickrematunga, an outspoken editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper, often clashed with politicians including Gotabaya.

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Alasdair Pal and Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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First shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid arrives in Venezuela

A worker directs trucks with logo of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) carrying humanitarian aid, at a warehouse where the aid will be stored, in Caracas
A worker directs trucks with logo of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) carrying humanitarian aid, at a warehouse where the aid will be stored, in Caracas, Venezuela, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 16, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – The first shipment of humanitarian aid from the Red Cross intended to alleviate a dire economic crisis in Venezuela arrived in the once-prosperous, oil-rich country on Tuesday, a representative of the organization and a lawmaker said.

The delivery came after an about-face by President Nicolas Maduro, who last week said his socialist government had reached an agreement with the Red Cross to bring aid. Maduro had blocked previous efforts to deliver assistance and has denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis.

There was little hope that the shipment – intended to help hospitals cope with shortages of equipment and frequent power outages – would be anything more than a palliative measure for Venezuela, where over three million people have fled the chaos of hyperinflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine.

But opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro said the lack of “interference” by Maduro’s government with the entry of aid was a positive step and that more shipments would arrive in the days ahead.

“The same people who had previously denied the arrival (of aid), who had previously brought this country to the verge of confrontation, are today complying with humanitarian principles,” Pizarro told reporters at the Congress, adding that the Red Cross would handle the logistics of distribution.

Venezuela was plunged into a political deadlock in January, when Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

Guaido has since been recognized as Venezuela’s rightful leader by most Western nations. Several countries, including the United States and neighboring Colombia, contributed to a February effort to deliver aid across Venezuela’s land borders, in the hopes soldiers would disavow Maduro’s orders to block it.

While that effort failed, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in late March it was prepared to start an aid operation.

Tuesday’s shipment, which arrived via airplane from Panama, included 14 power generators, 5,000 liters of distilled water, and three surgery equipment kits capable of serving 10,000 patients each, according to the Red Cross.

Mario Villarroel, the Red Cross’ president in Venezuela, said on Twitter that the materials would be distributed to hospitals around the country.

The United Nations estimates that a quarter of Venezuelans are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 1.9 million suffering from malnutrition and some 300,000 whose lives are at risk due to lack of medicine.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera, Shaylim Castro and Mayela Armas; writing by Luc Cohen; editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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Palestinian-born Berliner leads efforts to rebuild synagogue

Raed Saleh was 5 years old when his family left their Palestinian village in the West Bank for a better life in Germany. Now 41, the Muslim has become one of Berlin's top politicians and is spearheading efforts to rebuild a synagogue in the German capital that was destroyed by the Nazis 80 years ago.

What may sound utopian in parts of the world where hostilities between Muslims and Jews run high has become a reality in Berlin: Jews, Muslims and Christians have joined forces to rebuild what used to be one of the city's biggest synagogues.

In recent years a surviving section of the Fraenkelufer Synagogue, which stands on the banks of a canal in the city's Kreuzberg neighborhood, has become home to a vibrant and diverse community for Jews from across the world, but as the community grows the space isn't enough.

Co-existence isn't always easy in Berlin, either, but with the blessing of people like Saleh, who heads Berlin's Social Democrats and is a lawmaker in the city's government, the interfaith effort may come to fruition in a few years.

"In the past, Berlin tore down the wall between west and east," Saleh said during a recent visit to the synagogue. "Today, we must tear down the walls of hatred."

"The growing anti-Semitism and hostility toward Muslims, the growing intolerance toward each other — this cannot go on," Saleh said.

The Fraenkelufer synagogue was opened as an Orthodox house of prayer in 1916 and held 2,000 worshippers. Before the Third Reich, Germany's flourishing Jewish community counted about 560,000 people and was known for its cultural and intellectual prominence. In 1938, however, five years after the Nazis had come to power in Germany, mobs destroyed parts of the building during the Night of Broken Glass, or Kristallnacht, in which synagogues, Jewish stores and homes were vandalized across the country. In the Holocaust that followed, the Nazis and their henchmen murdered 6 million Jews across Europe.

Today, only a side wing of the building, known as the youth synagogue, remains in the middle of what has become a mostly Arab and Turkish immigrant district dotted with mosques, tea houses and kebab stands.

Nonetheless, the small synagogue has attracted a growing number of young Jewish families who have moved to the German capital in recent years from Israel, the United States, the former Soviet Union, South America and Australia.

Saleh said he met up with some of the temple's members over hummus and falafel a while back and asked them how he could help support the growing community.

The answer was clear: they asked for more space.

"When we have bigger events and celebrations, this space is bursting at the seams, it's very quickly getting very tight," said Jonathan Marcus, 38, who is a fifth-generation German member of the Fraenkelufer synagogue. He said there's also a need for additional prayer space, study rooms and a kindergarten.

Saleh promised to turn his words into action last year and now chairs a diverse board of trustees including Jews, Christians and Muslims who seek to raise the estimated 24 million euros ($27.3 million) needed to rebuild the temple's main building, which before the war was a white neo-classical structure fronted by columns.

There are no architectural blueprints yet, but many enthusiastic supporters who hope to collect enough donations to break the ground five years from now.

One of them, Nirit Bialer, a 40-year-old Israeli business development manager who moved to Germany 13 years ago, said she can't wait for her dreams of a cultural center within the synagogue to become real.

"I think it's great that Berlin enables us to work together — people of different faiths, of different backgrounds," Bialer said before attending a prayer service on the eve of the Purim holiday inside the synagogue's somewhat cramped prayer room. "The fact that Raed Saleh is Palestinian by roots is a non-issue ... for me he is a Berliner."

So far, Saleh says reactions to the project have been overwhelmingly positive. Even some Muslim communities vowed to collect money for the synagogue in their mosques after Friday prayers.

"In the end this synagogue is more than just a synagogue: It's a sign for togetherness of religions, cultures and traditions," Saleh said.

___

More information online: www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin

Source: Fox News World

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Forced to beg, Senegal’s ‘talibes’ face exploitation and abuse

The Wider Image: Forced to beg, Senegal's
Omar Wone, 8, from Futa, a Koran student, called a talibe, sits on the floor of the daara (Koranic school) where he lives and learns Koran in Saint-Louis, Senegal, February 8, 2019. Omar was complaining about chest pain. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

February 22, 2019

By Zohra Bensemra and Juliette Jabkhiro

SAINT-LOUIS, Senegal (Reuters) – An eight-year-old boy fled his Koranic school in Saint-Louis, Senegal this month after he said a teacher threatened to beat him for not earning enough money begging on the street.

Hours later, alone in the corner of a low-lit bus station, he was raped by a teenager.

The child, whose name is not disclosed for privacy reasons, was rescued mid-assault by a local non-profit called Maison de la Gare that patrols Saint-Louis at night battling what has become a deep-rooted problem in Senegalese cities: thousands of young boys sent to religious schools end up begging on the streets, or worse.

“These things are still shocking, even when it is the tenth or fifteenth time you see them,” said Maison de la Gare’s founder, Issa Kouyate, referring to the boy’s case.

A Reuters witness also saw the rape before it was stopped.

Teachers from the school the boy fled declined repeated requests for comment. His parents were not reachable.

Kouyate said that he was making inquiries about the background of the teenager who committed the rape, and will then report him to the police.

On Thursday, Saint-Louis police said in response to a phone call from Reuters seeking comment that the appropriate officer for such a case was not available to speak. On Friday, Reuters calls to the police station went unanswered.

Families across Senegal have long enrolled their children in schools called daaras to learn Islamic scripture and build character. Historically, part of that teaching included begging for food to instill humility.

Many daaras are free from problems of abuse. Success in a daara and strong knowledge of the Koran can lead to a prestigious position as an Imam or a Koranic teacher, known as a marabout. Many parents, often far away back home, are unaware of the risks some children face in the process, said Mamadou Gueye, 57, who works with abused children in Saint-Louis.

In recent decades, some rights groups say the school children, called talibes, have at times been kept by marabouts in dire conditions, forced to beg for money and beaten if they do not come back with enough. There are no safeguards for children who escape and find themselves alone on the streets, they say.

LEARNING KARATE

The ill-treatment of talibes was a largely taboo subject in Senegal, but awareness campaigns have slowly provoked debate.

President Macky Sall, who touts himself as a modernizing president with a series of large infrastructure projects to his name, in 2016 launched a plan ordering the removal of children from the streets and said those who force them to beg would be jailed.

About 300 hundred were helped by the program in 2018, government figures show.

“These are our children, and we are trying to involve everyone in protecting them,” said Alioune Sarr, head of Child Protection in the Senegalese government. The government has set up a free hotline to report cases of child abuse, he said.

The issue has come into focus ahead of Sunday’s presidential election. Two of the five candidates, Ousmane Sonko and Issa Sall, said their programs include measures to regulate the daaras system and end child begging.

Human Rights Watch says over 100,000 children are still sent out to beg.

In Saint-Louis, as in the capital Dakar, groups of children weave through traffic asking for money, wearing shorts and ragged football shirts bearing the names of their millionaire heroes.

At Maison de la Gare, talibes can eat a sandwich, shower, wash their clothes and receive first aid assistance. There are opportunities to learn English and play sport.

“I’m learning karate so I can defend myself,” said eight-year-old Demba, who said he was once forced by a teacher to stay out all night and beg for money, only to be robbed by a drunk man at 6 a.m.

He did not give the name of the marabout, or the school.

After being away from home, Demba expressed mixed feelings about the family that sent him to the school in the first place.

“I no longer feel anything towards my parents,” Demba said. “I don’t even know if I’m angry at them or not.”

Click on https://reut.rs/2tyIpVb to see a related photo essay

(Editing by Edward McAllister, William Maclean)

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.

Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

April 26, 2019

By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky

MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.

Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.

Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.

The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.

Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.

The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.

Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.

OIL PRICES

Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.

With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.

State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.

Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.

Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.

The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.

Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

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But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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