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Notre Dame fire witness: ‘The smoke turned orange, then green, then dark black’

An American tourist who witnessed Monday's catastrophic fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris recalled late Monday that the smoke from the blaze initially resembled a chimney fire before turning an ominous shade of dark black as flames spread and devoured the interior of the centuries-old sanctuary.

David Almacy, a former White House Internet director under George W. Bush, told Fox News that he, his wife, and two daughters had finished a tour of the smaller Saint-Chappelle chapel, not far from Notre Dame, and decided to walk over to the cathedral at around 6:30 p.m. local time.

"As we were walking over that way, we started to smell smoke and I think it was my younger daughter who looked up and said, 'What's that?'" Almacy said. "Initially, it [the smoke] looked like it was coming from behind the building."

SHOCKING PHOTOS: NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL CATCHES FIRE

The Almacys had been in line to enter Notre Dame earlier in the day but opted to postpone their visit when the time slots for guided tours of the building filled up.

"We thought, 'We'll come back tomorrow,'" said Almacy, who arrived back to Notre Dame with his family shortly after the cathedral's 6:45 p.m. closing time and first noticed smoke from the blaze at approximately 6:50 p.m.

"Initially, there was no frenzy," said Almacy, who added that he did not see any fire engines for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. "There were a lot of sirens and a lot of police vehicles."

The situation became more serious at around 7:30 p.m. when Almacy described seeing "flames shooting out" of the building as "the smoke turned orange, then green, then dark black."

"We didn't know, was it an attack? Was it an accident?" He said. "We decided to move away and let the first responders and law enforcement do their work. Plus, we were having trouble breathing, our lungs were starting to hurt a little bit."

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As they walked, the Almacys passed hundreds of bystanders who had gathered to watch the horror from the bridges across the Seine River. They did not see Notre Dame's centuries-old roof collapse in the gathering darkness.

"This building took 200 years to build and it was destroyed by fire in less than two hours," Almacy said Monday evening. "It's a reminder to not take the things that we have for granted."

Source: Fox News World

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Border Patrol agent who was actually undocumented immigrant is sentenced to probation

A Federal District Court judge on Thursday sentenced a Border Patrol agent who lied about being a U.S. citizen to a year of probation and also imposed a $1,000 fine.

Marco A. De La Garza Jr., 38, actually is a Mexican citizen who managed to slip into the U.S. Navy, where he served on a nuclear submarine, and into the Customs and Border Protection agency with a U.S. birth certificate that he obtained with phony documents.

De La Garza pleaded guilty to a count of passport fraud, according to The New York Times.

Authorities opted for leniency, citing his otherwise clean background and dedicated service to the United States.

PENTAGON AUTHORIZES UP TO $1B TO START 57 MILES OF BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION 

The federal judge, Raner C. Collins, said that De La Garza’s record of service in the military and in the government job “ought to count for something.”

Federal probation officers asked the court to spare De La Garza from a jail sentence and to give him a year of probation.

Growing up, my parents told me that I was a U.S. citizen, and my whole childhood I was led to believe this was true,” he wrote in a letter to the judge, the Times reported. “Because of that, I grew up thinking I would do my duty one day and join the U.S. military.

— Marco A. De La Garza Jr.

NEW YORK CITY TO GIVE ADDITIONAL $1.6 MILLION TO CITY ATTORNEYS TO DEFEND IMMIGRANTS SLATED FOR DEPORTATION

De La Garza maintains that for much of his childhood, he thought he was no different from other U.S. kids in Brownsville, Texas. He said his parents led him to believe he was a U.S. citizen, which is not uncommon in undocumented homes, where parents fear that their children will disclose their status to friends and at school if they are informed of it.

“Growing up, my parents told me that I was a U.S. citizen, and my whole childhood I was led to believe this was true,” he wrote in a letter to the judge, the Times reported. “Because of that, I grew up thinking I would do my duty one day and join the U.S. military.”

He said that it was only after he asked to see his birth certificate that he learned from his parents that they had lied to him about being a U.S. citizen and that he was really a citizen of Mexico.

De La Garza, who has two U.S.-born daughters ages 2 and 4, was able to slip into the Navy and the Border Patrol agency by presenting a U.S. birth certificate his mother had obtained that was issued by this government, but was issued based on phony information that stated his birthplace as Brownsville instead of Mexico.

“In retrospect, I fully understand now that I was being selfish in my desire to serve my country that I had so loved,” the Times said he wrote.

His secret came out after he applied for a U.S. passport in 2017.

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In court documents, reported the Sierra Vista Herald, the U.S. Attorney's Office said: "Despite knowing he was born in Mexico and a Mexican citizen, De La Garza used the false Texas birth certificate to enter the United States and assert United States' citizenship. De La Garza stated he was born in Brownsville, Texas on December 1980 and he was a U.S. citizen."

De La Garza could be deported, but the Times said that the former agent’s attorney contends that immigration officials told him they will not pursue it.

“That’s what we have to look forward to at this point, applying for naturalization in a year,” said the attorney, Matthew H. Green, who added that De La Garza's veteran status would enable him to apply for citizenship a year after his conviction.

Green said his client wants to remain in the country that he considers home.

“Mr. De La Garza and his family ask only one thing from the United States — they ask for a second chance.”

Source: Fox News National

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Media Focus on Trump Has Been Remarkably Stable

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The Era of Trump has been a blessing for America’s news media, giving them a never-ending stream of stories that have captivated the public. Just over two years into Donald Trump’s presidency, it seems the media and the public have yet to get bored with him.

The timeline below shows the total percentage of airtime of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News mentioning Trump by month since May 2015, using data from the Internet Archive’s Television News Archive. Coverage of the then-candidate increased steeply from his June 2015 announcement through his November 2016 election, then decreased through June 2017 before essentially stabilizing through the present.

During his candidacy, all three channels covered him fairly closely, though Fox News has always mentioned the president less often than the other two. In May 2017, MSNBC took the lead in covering Trump, followed by CNN and then Fox News, with this lineup remaining remarkably consistent ever since.

In total, since May 2015, MSNBC has devoted 7.5 percent of its airtime to mentions of the president, followed by 6.2 percent for CNN and 5.1 percent for Fox News.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that mentions of the president do appear to be decreasing slowly, especially over the past year. However, it turns out that this decrease is not due to diminished interest in Trump, but rather a shift toward coverage of the issues that involve him, especially the Mueller investigation.

The timeline below shows the combined airtime across MSNBC, CNN and Fox News that mentioned Trump versus the airtime that mentioned Trump plus Mueller.

Immediately clear is that mentions of the president alone have decreased in the Era of Mueller, replaced by discussion of the investigation that centers on him. Overall, however, there has been little change in interest in the president, with around 15 percent of all television airtime across the three news channels mentioning Trump  or the Mueller investigation involving him over the last two years.

Media interest doesn’t always align with the public’s interest, but in the case of President Trump, it appears the latter has similarly remained constant since early 2017. The timeline below shows overall U.S. search interest in the president, using data from Google Trends. Google does not report the raw number of searches, instead reporting the month with the greatest number of searches as 100 percent and reporting the remaining months in relation to it.

Putting this all together, Donald Trump has demonstrated remarkable staying power, with either he or the major issues involving him garnering consistently level coverage for most of the two years of his presidency. The public seems to be similarly captivated, with search interest exhibiting a nearly identical steady stream.

While he has polarized the nation with his policies, it seems Trump has united it in interest in himself.

RealClear Media Fellow Kalev Leetaru is a senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber & Homeland Security. His past roles include fellow in residence at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government.

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Google South East Asia and India VP to leave at end-April

A woman walks past the logo of Google during an event in New Delhi
A woman walks past the logo of Google during an event in New Delhi, India, August 28, 2018. Picture taken August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

April 2, 2019

(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google South East Asia and India Vice-President Rajan Anandan will leave the firm at the end of April, Google Asia Pacific President Scott Beaumont said on Tuesday.

Vikas Agnihotri, country director, sales, will replace Anandan in the interim for Google India, Beaumont added.

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Source: OANN

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Sri Lanka Easter bombing culprits remain elusive as no militant groups step up to claim responsibilty

More than a day after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in Sri Lanka that claimed the lives of nearly 300 people, little has been revealed or said about the militant group government officials are blaming for the violence.

Multiple media reports cited Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne as saying Monday that an obscure organization called National Thowfeek Jamaath was behind the blasts that rocked churches and luxury hotels yesterday in and around Colombo – Sri Lanka’s capital and largest city.

But officials from the island nation off the coast of India still have not produced evidence directly tying the group to the bombings. Officials told The Wall Street Journal their suspicions are hinging on information received from an unnamed foreign government in the lead-up to the attacks, alleging that National Thowfeek Jamaath had been planning acts of violence. Yet those warnings, they added, were not clear enough to take action on.

Even the spelling of the group appears to have formed a divided consensus among the international news media, with translations of its name appearing in reports as everything from Nations Thawahid Jaman to National Thawheed Jama’ut.

SRI LANKA AUTHORITIES WARNED OF EASTER CHURCH BOMBINGS WEEKS BEFORE SUNDAY’S MASSACRE, OFFICIALS SAY

And adding to the confusion: no militant group as of late Monday has claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka bombings. The Associated Press has quoted Senaratne as saying that whichever group carried out the attacks likely had help from outside the country – further widening the scope of the investigation.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced Monday that as of midnight tonight, the country’s military will be granted war-time powers to arrest and detain suspects in the bombings probe. The Associated Press reported 24 people are already in custody for questioning, but their names, ages and affiliations are unclear.

Anne Speckhard, the director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, told the New York Times that National Thowfeek Jamaath’s mission is to generate hate, fear and divisions through the spread of the global jihadist movement.

The group originated in 2009 on Sri Lanka’s east coast and became known for vandalizing Buddhist statues and stoking religious tensions, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In March 2017, the group was involved in a clash in the Muslim-majority town of Kattankudy – near one of Sunday’s church bombing sites – that left three hospitalized and resulted in 10 arrests, the New York Times says, citing a local media report.

The Indian Express website says the group was formed in Kattankudy and has been pushing for Sharia law in the region.

Yet the Easter Sunday bombings would represent a new – and radical -- escalation of violence for National Thowfeek Jamaath and its supporters.

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“This attack took a lot of planning, which is surprising for a group that most have never heard of,” Raffaello Pantucci, a member of the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies think tank, told The Wall Street Journal. “That makes me suspect that there is an external link, and Islamic State or Al Qaeda are the obvious suspects.”

Researchers also told the newspaper that Christians and Westerners are increasingly coming under attack by extremists in Asia and Africa.

Source: Fox News World

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China and Indonesia halt Boeing 737 MAX 8 after Ethiopia crash

Ethiopian Federal policemen stand near engine parts at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu
Ethiopian Federal policemen stand near engine parts at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

March 11, 2019

By Aaron Maasho and Stella Qiu

ADDIS ABABA/BEIJING (Reuters) – China, Indonesia and Ethiopia grounded their Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 fleets on Monday while investigators found the black box from a crash that killed 157 people in the second disaster involving that airplane model in six months.

The Ethiopian Airlines jet bound for Nairobi came down minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing all on board. The victims came from 33 nations and included 22 United Nations’ staff.

The discovery of the black box with both the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data, reported by Ethiopian state TV, should shed light on the cause of the crash.

At the scene, men in Red Cross jackets picked through the dirt, putting items in black paper bags, while investigators hunted for the black box voice recorders.

“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the crash, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as extra safety precaution,” Ethiopian Airlines said. It has four other 737 MAX 8 jets, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

The 737 line is the world’s best selling modern passenger aircraft and viewed as one of the industry’s most reliable.

CHINA’S ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’

China on Monday also ordered its airlines to suspend operations of their 737 MAX 8 jets by 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) following the second crash of a Boeing 737 MAX jet since one run by Indonesia’s Lion Air went down in October.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it would notify airlines when they could resume flying the jets, after contacting Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“Given that two accidents both involved newly delivered Boeing 737-8 planes and happened during take-off phase, they have some degree of similarity,” the CAAC said, adding the step was in line with its principle of zero tolerance of safety hazards. The 737 MAX 8 is sometimes referred to as the 737-8.

Indonesia also said it would temporarily ground Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft for inspection.

In October, a 737 MAX 8 operated by budget carrier Lion Air crashed 13 minutes after take-off from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on a domestic flight, killing all 189 on board.

Cayman Airways sad it had grounded both of its new 737 MAX 8 jets temporarily too, while India announced a safety review.

A senior U.S. official said it was too early to tell if there was any direct connection between the two accidents but assessing that was a priority for investigators.

By January-end, Boeing had delivered 350 of the 737 MAX family jets to customers, with 4,661 more on order.

Boeing shares slid almost 10 percent in early trading on Monday. The move, if maintained through normal trading hours, would be the biggest fall in Boeing’s stock in nearly two decades, halting a surge that has seen it triple in value in just over three years to a record high of $446 last week.

MOURNING

Ethiopia’s parliament declared Monday a day of mourning.

A global summit in Nairobi opened with a moment of silence as some wept for the U.N. members killed in one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the organization’s history.

The dead include a 28-year-old Norwegian Red Cross worker, three Austrian aid workers on their way to Zanzibar, a Nigerian-Canadian professor known for mentoring young colleagues, and an Italian archaeologist, employers and foreign ministries said.

The pilot Yared Getachew, who was a joint Ethiopian-Kenyan national, had a “commendable record” and more than 8,000 hours of flying experience, Ethiopian Airlines said.

Kenyan authorities had managed to contact the families of 25 of the 32 Kenyan passengers, cabinet secretary for transport James Macharia told journalists at the airport on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore, Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta, Katherine Houreld in Hereward Holland in Nairobi, Josh Horwitz in Shanghai, Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: OANN

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

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Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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