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Fire under control, attention turns to Notre Dame’s future

Experts are assessing the blackened shell of Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral to establish next steps to save what remains after a devastating fire destroyed much of the almost 900-year-old building.

With the fire that broke out Monday evening and quickly consumed the cathedral now under control, attention is turning to ensuring the structural integrity of the remaining building.

Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced that architects and other experts would meet at the cathedral early Tuesday "to determine if the structure is stable and if the firefighters can go inside to continue their work."

Officials consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work taking place at the global architectural treasure, but that news has done nothing to ease the national mourning.

Source: Fox News World

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Slowing manufacturing hiring may point to fraying U.S. expansion

FILE PHOTO: A line worker installs the front seats on the flex line at Nissan Motor Co's automobile manufacturing plant in Smyrna Tennessee
FILE PHOTO: A line worker installs the front seats on the flex line at Nissan Motor Co's automobile manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, U.S., August 23, 2018. REUTERS/William DeShazer/File Photo

April 5, 2019

By Trevor Hunnicutt

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The longest streak of U.S. factory hiring in a quarter century came to an unexpected end last month, and a clouded outlook for important manufacturing sectors like autos may impede a quick rebound, undermining a key plank of U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.

That sector lost 6,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said on Friday, ending a 19-month streak of gains that started in August 2017 and had it extended one more month would have become the longest uninterrupted expansion of factory employment since the mid-1980s.

As it stands, the just-ended run was the longest since a comparable streak from August 1993 through February 1995 and saw the generation of 410,000 U.S. factory jobs. By comparison, that earlier run during Democrat Bill Clinton’s presidency produced 526,000 new manufacturing positions. A 20-month streak back in the early 1980s generated 1.34 million production jobs.

Today, companies that produce cars, construction equipment and other manufactured goods account for 12 percent of an economy that in July marks 10 years of expansion, the longest on record. Back in the 1990s, manufacturing’s share of the economy was around 16 percent and it was closer to 20 percent in the early 1980s.

Trump campaigned on rebuilding the sector and his ability to create high-paying American manufacturing jobs, partly by pushing other countries for more favorable terms of trade.

For a graphic on U.S. manufacturing employment, see – https://tmsnrt.rs/2CYWCQt

Overall, though, the March jobs report was upbeat.

It showed U.S. employment growth in March accelerating from a 17-month low, signaling that February’s sharp pullback was more likely an anomaly rather than a sign of an impending economic slowdown. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 196,000 jobs for the month, while economists polled by Reuters forecast gains of 180,000 jobs.

Last month’s unexpected slowdown in factory hiring – economists polled by Reuters had forecast a gain of 10,000 jobs – may signal that slower consumer and business spending as well as softening auto sales may curtail manufacturing job growth going forward. Another possibility is that factories are finding trouble finding and retaining willing workers.

Weakness in the auto sector bears watching. Manufacturers in that area have announced thousands of job cuts to deal with slowing sales that have led to an inventory bloat. So far this year auto manufacturers and suppliers have unveiled plans to cut 15,887 jobs, according to data on Thursday from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc, an outplacement consultancy.

Yet some companies that are hiring in that sector report labor shortages in their regions.

Shawn Hendrix, president of Nissen Chemitec America Inc, which supplies parts for Honda and Subaru cars, said he is not seeing an industry slowdown. He is having trouble finding people to fill jobs at his London, Ohio, factory.

“We are hiring – in our area in central Ohio almost all manufacturers I know are hiring,” Hendrix said. But it’s hard to find workers willing to commit to long-term jobs: some quit after two days of orientation. “If we don’t develop a pipeline with our educators it’s going to be very difficult to sustain manufacturing,” he said.

It is possible that the figure for March is a blip. The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday that its index of national factory activity rose to a reading of 55.3 in March from 54.2 in February, which had marked the lowest level since November 2016.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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German woman known as 'scammer socialite' will likely get deported

Anna Delvey, the infamous "scammer socialite" who posed as a wealthy heiress to infiltrate the upper echelon of New York City's social scene, is facing deportation after her trial concludes.

The German citizen, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, is currently facing ten counts of larceny after allegedly swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, hotels and wealthy friends over the course of several years. Delvey, 28, reportedly entered the United States under the Visa Waiver Program in June 2017, but stayed far past the legal timeframe of 90 days.

Rachael Yong Yow, a representative for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said that the department requested that Delvey be handed over to them after her trial, regardless of whether or not she is found guilty.

"ICE is requesting that we be notified prior to her release from local custody so she can be taken into ICE custody," Yow told INSIDER. "Regardless of whether or not she is convicted, she is amenable for removal because she is a visa waiver overstay. If she is convicted, she is sentenced to serve her time in the US."

Delvey's story found viral fame after an article exposing her years-long con was published in New York magazine last year. After successfully convincing the entirety of New York's social scene that she came from a long line of foreign family money, she secured loans using bad checks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to get funding for a business she planned to launch. She subsequently scammed months worth of free stays in some of the city's most luxurious hotels, private jets to meetings with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and vacations on yachts in Ibiza before her crimes were revealed.

FELICITY HUFFMAN, LORI LOUGHLIN FACE POSSIBLE JAIL TIME FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS CHEATING SCANDAL

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Now, even after being arrested, Delvey owed more than $250,000 in unpaid legal fees she allegedly owes to the firm representing her.

U.S. law designates any fraud-related offenses "in which the loss to the victim(s) is more than $10,000 as a "deportable offense." According to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, she stole approximately $275,000.

Shonda Rhimes, who has been involved in the production of shows like "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away with Murder," is in the process of creating a Netflix series about Delvey's life.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Jurors were selected for her trial this past week, and the proceedings are expected to conclude sometime next month.

Prosecutors have reportedly offered her three to nine years behind bars in exchange for a guilty plea, but she continues to plead not guilty.

Source: Fox News National

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Dutch detain 2 suspected of providing arms for Paris attacks

Dutch prosecutors say police have detained two men in Amsterdam on suspicion of involvement in providing weapons used in the deadly November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

Prosecutors said Friday that the men, aged 29 and 31, were detained Tuesday following an investigation by French, Belgian and Dutch detectives. Computers, data carriers, documents and cell phones were seized from their homes.

Prosecutors say in a statement, "the suspicion against them is that they were involved in some way in delivering the weapons" used by Islamic extremists who killed 130 concertgoers at the Bataclan venue and other Paris sites on Nov. 13, 2015.

The 29-year-old suspect appeared before an investigating judge Friday who ordered him detained for two weeks. Prosecutors say the other suspect has been released for health reasons. Their identities were not released.

Source: Fox News World

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Kentucky teen sues school for barring him from basketball because he refuses to get chickenpox vaccine

A Kentucky teenager is reportedly suing his local health department for not allowing him to play basketball due to his refusal to get a chicken pox vaccine.

Jerome Kunkel, 18, has filed a lawsuit against the Northern Kentucky Health Department after an outbreak of chickenpox took place at his school, the Assumption Academy, which is associated with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in Union, KY.  After 32 cases of chickenpox were reported at the school, the NKY Health Department said that any unvaccinated students would not be allowed to attend school until 21 days after the onset of a rash on the last student or staff member.

Kunkel filed his lawsuit against the health department because he's disappointed that he can't attend basketball practice for his senior year, because he refuses to get the chicken pox vaccine. As a practicing Catholic, he says he cannot get the vaccine because it is "derived from aborted fetal cells" which he considers "immoral, Illegal and sinful," according to his lawsuit.

"The fact that I can't finish my senior year of basketball, like our last couple games is pretty devastating," Kunkel told CNN. "I mean you go through four years of high school, playing basketball, but you look forward to your senior year."

Some Catholics, like Kunkel, take issue with the fact that some vaccines were derived from cells taken from two fetuses who were aborted in the 1960s. The National Catholic Bioethics Center notes that a tiny sample of these cells were multiplied to create viruses that were, in turn, used to develop vaccines. Today's vaccines, however, are far removed from those cells because the cell lines have "grown independently."

TEXAS PEDIATRICIAN REUSING TO TREAT UNVACCINATED KIDS AS MEASLES CASES SPREAD

After 32 cases of chickenpox were reported at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy, the NKY Health Department said that any unvaccinated students would not be allowed to attend school until 21 days after the onset of a rash on the last student or staff member

After 32 cases of chickenpox were reported at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy, the NKY Health Department said that any unvaccinated students would not be allowed to attend school until 21 days after the onset of a rash on the last student or staff member (Google View )

Some vaccines have alternatives that have no history of connection with those 1960s cells, but one does not exist for chickenpox.

"And of course, we as Christians, we're against abortion," Jerome's father Bill Kunkel said.

The NCBC adds that Christians are "morally free to use the vaccines regardless of its historical association with abortion," because the risk to public health posed by choosing not to vaccinate "outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine." Pope Benedict XVI has even encouraged Christians to vaccinate their children.

The Kunkel family, however, said they feel the NKY Health Department is trying to push the chickenpox vaccine on them and they don't want to comply.

BOY NEVER VACCINATED RACKED UP $800G IN MEDICAL BILLS AFTER TETANUS REQUIRED 57-DAY HOSPITAL STAY: CDC

In response to the lawsuit, the NKY Health Dept. told Fox News that they were simply doing their job in trying to keep the public safe.

"We are aware of the lawsuit filed by Jerome Kunkel, and want to state that the actions taken by the Health Department with respect to Assumption Academy were done consistent with this agency’s statutory charge to protect the public health," a department statement said. Though NKY Health Dept. added it couldn't comment on an ongoing lawsuit, the statement said that individuals, including Kunkel's attorney, "have taken to social media to spread misinformation as part of their litigation strategy."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The statement continued: "Chickenpox, also known as varicella, can be a very serious illness that is especially dangerous for infants and pregnant women or anyone who has a weakened immune system. The recent actions taken by the Northern Kentucky Health Department regarding the chickenpox outbreak at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy was in direct response to a public health threat and was an appropriate and necessary response to prevent further spread of this infectious illness."

Source: Fox News National

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US, Russia divided on Venezuela after talks in Rome

Russia and the United States remain split on how to resolve the crisis in Venezuela, officials from both powers said Tuesday after talks in Rome.

Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's special envoy to Venezuela, met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to discuss the situation in the Latin American country.

"We did not come to a meeting of the minds, but the talks were positive in the sense that I think both sides emerged with a better understanding of the other's views," Abrams told reporters after the meeting at a luxury hotel in Rome.

He said it's "perfectly plausible" that the two sides meet again but no date was set.

Russia backs Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and has accused Washington of meddling in the country's affairs by pressing him to step down and hand over power to opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Speaking to Russian media, Ryabkov emphasized the need for dialogue with the U.S. but warned Washington against military intervention.

President Donald Trump has said "all options are on the table" regarding Venezuela, which Russia interprets as a refusal to exclude military force, Ryabkov said.

"We have warned the U.S. against that reckless approach," Ryabkov said in remarks that were carried by the state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies.

Abrams insisted the U.S. will continue to keep its options open but said it has chosen the path of putting political, financial and diplomatic pressure on Maduro's regime.

Earlier, Abrams met government officials from Italy — one of four European Union countries that have not backed Guaido as Venezuela's interim president — and paid a visit to the Vatican. He noted that the Catholic Church enjoys respect and credibility in Venezuela but said it's unclear what role if any the Vatican could play in its political crisis.

Pope Francis has reportedly written to Maduro indicating conditions aren't ripe for the Vatican to step in and help mediate.

___

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Pennsylvania woman killed following ‘horrible’ meat grinder incident: official

A woman working at a facility in Pennsylvania died Monday in a “horrible" meat grinder accident, the county coroner said.

The fatal incident took place around 11:30 a.m. at the Economy Locker Storage Company, WNEP reported. It involved a commercial meat grinder, Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

PENNSYLVANIA MAN, 76, CHARGED WITH KILLING WIFE WHO VANISHED IN 1981

“We don’t know if she fell in or was pulled in as she was perhaps reaching for something in the grinder, which was about 6 feet off the ground, he said.

Upon discovering what happened, a co-worker contacted authorities, Kiessling told the outlet. By the time they got to the scene, the unidentified woman was deceased, according to the Sun-Gazette, citing officials.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

The fatality is reportedly under investigation.

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)

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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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