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German Greens won’t back any EU chief who woos far right

A leading candidate for Germany's Green party says it won't support anyone hoping to head the European Union's executive branch if that candidate seeks the support of the far right.

Populist and far-right parties critical of the EU are expected to make gains in next month's European parliamentary elections, which are being held in all EU nations.

Sven Giegold said Thursday if the Greens' own candidate for the European Commission presidency fails to win sufficient support — which is likely — the party would seek to form "a clear pro-European majority" in the bloc's parliament.

Giegold told reporters in Berlin that "we won't back anyone who allows themselves to be supported by the far right." The comment was directed toward the center-right European People's Party and its leading candidate, Manfred Weber.

Source: Fox News World

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Peru President Vizcarra swears in actor as new prime minister

Peru's new Prime Minister Salvador del Solar attend a swearing-in ceremony at the government palace in Lima
Peru's new Prime Minister Salvador del Solar attend a swearing-in ceremony at the government palace in Lima, Peru March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Guadalupe Pardo

March 11, 2019

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra swore in actor and former Culture Minister Salvador del Solar as his new prime minister on Monday in a cabinet shuffle that may help shore up his slipping approval ratings.

Vizcarra opted to keep Finance Minister Carlos Oliva and Energy and Mines Minister Francisco Ismodes in their posts, but changed eight other ministers, including the production and agriculture ministers.

No major policy changes were expected under del Solar, who has degrees in law and international relations but is best known for his starring roles in Spanish-language films.

Del Solar, 48, served as culture minister for about a year under former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who resigned in a graft scandal a year ago.

Vizcarra, Kuczynski’s former vice president, took office to replace Kuczynski and won broad support for pushing measures aimed at fighting corruption and taking a tougher stance with the opposition-controlled Congress.

But Vizcarra’s approval rating fell seven percentage points to 56 percent this month, according to a Datum Internacional poll last week, after reaching a high of 66 percent in January.

Presidents in Peru often reshuffle their cabinets when their approval ratings fall, though all recent presidents have ended their terms widely unpopular.

Despite occasional bouts of political turmoil, Peru has been one of Latin America’s most stable and fastest-growing economies this century.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Mitra Taj; Editing by Steve Orlofsksy and Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

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India’s Modi may face some civil service departures from his office if re-elected: sources

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally in Junagadh
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally in Junagadh, Gujarat, India, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Amit Dave

April 10, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government may have to make a series of major changes at the top of the nation’s civil service if Prime Minister Narendra Modi is re-elected to a second term in May, according to multiple sources in the administration.

At least eight senior bureaucrats in the prime minister’s office have either sought a transfer to other departments or plan to take premature retirement, three government officials said. The officials, from the prime minister’s office, the home (interior) ministry and the foreign ministry, declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Two of them said they too are keen to be transferred to state capitals or to other jobs. They said officials in several ministries were trying to move, but did not have a number.

There are about 25 senior civil servants working in the prime minister’s office, which under Modi has become the single most powerful department in government.

The three officials said the reasons for wanting out are almost all the same. Many top bureaucrats complained about two aspects of the Modi administration – their inability to influence government policy as it is largely controlled and set by the prime minister and a small group of ministers and advisers, and the demanding work schedule they face.

“The sense of partnership is missing, Modi and his ministers do not have an organic relationship with the bureaucrats,” said the civil servant in the home ministry.

Sanjay Mayukh, a spokesman for Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), declined to comment on the grounds that governance issues were managed directly by ministers.

A spokesman in the prime minister’s office did not return phone calls seeking comment.

To be sure, some other major governments around the world often face a series of departures and changes, especially when a first term morphs into a second term.

Also, just because an official talks about quitting doesn’t mean they will.

But in India, officials in the prime minister’s office are hand-picked for loyalty and tend to stay if the administration is re-elected. Modi’s BJP-led alliance is tipped to win a slim majority in the April-May general election, pollsters say.

Senior bureaucrats said Modi’s top-down approach, and his orders to work on public holidays, to demand they submit details of their assets, and to clean their own workplaces at the start of a five-year cleanliness campaign in 2014, has widened the gap between the civil servants and the nation’s leader.

Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi and the head of the BJP, in a closed door meeting attended by two ministers in February said bureaucrats continued to suffer from “communist romanticism”, a reference to the alleged influence of the left-leaning Congress opposition party on the bureaucrats. The ministers, who spoke to Reuters, declined to be identified.

DISCONNECT WITH RULING PARTY

For some of the 5,000 or so mandarins who run the Indian government, its state-owned entities, as well as administration at state government level, Modi’s style of leadership has been a jolt. 

Many of these top officials have received a Western-style education at India’s elite universities or schools overseas and are uncomfortable with the ruling party’s right-wing Hindu nationalism and Modi’s rough-hewn approach to governance.

While getting into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), is incredibly hard – only 1 out of about 4,500 who took the civil service exam got selected in 2018 – traditionally once someone got in they had a job for life with few risks of ever getting fired.

An IAS job – one of the most sought after in India – bestows huge power as well as cheap housing, a car with a driver and other perks, leave for government-paid foreign study, and often the chance for plum positions in business or government consultative work after retirement. There is also a handsome pension.

But such conditions can also breed complacency and a lack of ‘can do’ behavior, according to Indian politicians and civil servants.

They say there are plenty of Sir Humphreys in New Delhi, referring to a character in the British TV comedy series “Yes Minister” about how top officials in Whitehall stall government policies they don’t agree with.

In particular, there is deep resentment in the top echelons of the Indian civil service over the interference in government by the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu right-wing umbrella group of which the BJP is a part, these officials said.

RSS functionaries have had a major role in successfully lobbying for big changes at the Reserve Bank of India, for example, leading to last December’s resignation of its governor and his replacement with an official who is considered more loyal to Modi, officials said.

TECHNOCRATS, NOT GENERALISTS

RSS figures also criticize Modi for not having enough professionally trained experts in place to implement some of his more controversial policies.

“The country needs a professional administration for economic development and can’t depend on generalists,” said Ashwani Mahajan, co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the RSS that has campaigned against some bureaucrats.

Last year, Modi proposed bringing in at least ten professionals from the private sector into the civil service at the joint secretary level, but the plan has still to be implemented, and is facing strong resistance from civil servants. Joint Secretaries are two rungs below full Secretaries, the top civil servant in a ministry.

A senior finance ministry official said major policy decisions including demonetization, Modi’s decision to wipe out high-denomination bank notes without warning in 2016 and to hastily launch a goods and services tax that hit millions of small businesses and jobs, were examples of political decisions that didn’t get enough airing among officials before being implemented. Both are thought to have hurt jobs growth, economists say.

There is a wider concern in the civil service about India being ruled by a Hindu nationalist party that some see destroying the country’s previous tolerant and secular nature.

But the hours are as much of a concern to some.

“I am looking out for other opportunities and have even requested for a transfer because it is almost impossible to work for 12-13 hours every day, even during weekends,” said a senior official working with Modi since 2014.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar, Rupam Jain.; Editing by Martin Howell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: OANN

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Tennessee attorney sentenced for stealing over $1M from trust funds of clients including slain trooper’s daughter

A Tennessee attorney who was charged with stealing more than $1.36 million from the trust funds of clients including a slain state trooper's daughter was sentenced Monday to over seven years behind bars.

Jackie Garton, 54, had pleaded guilty to wire fraud, tax fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to 92 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said in a news release.

CALIFORNIA OFFICERS APPARENTLY SHOOT EACH OTHER WHILE CONFRONTING SUSPECT, POLICE SAY

As a practicing attorney, Garton served as a trustee for several different trust fund accounts. One of the accounts he oversaw was for the daughter of Tennessee State Trooper Todd Larkin, who died in 2005 after he was hit by a tractor-trailer.

Tennessee State Trooper Todd Larkin was killed in 2005. Attorney Jackie Garton, who was sentenced to 92 months in prison on Monday, oversaw his daughter's trust fund account. 

Tennessee State Trooper Todd Larkin was killed in 2005. Attorney Jackie Garton, who was sentenced to 92 months in prison on Monday, oversaw his daughter's trust fund account.  (Tennessee Highway Patrol)

Prosecutors said that in 2009, "Garton began withdrawing funds under false pretenses from her account and others, without the clients’ knowledge."

Garton "converted the funds into cashier’s checks and used the money to enrich his lifestyle, including purchasing luxury items including a Jaguar automobile, a boat and a house."

In 2017, Larkin's daughter was 24 years old and said she wanted to open a bookshop. That's when she learned of the withdrawals from her trust fund, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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Garton said he stole around $1.2 million dollars from Larkin's daughter -- most of the $1.36 million taken from accounts he oversaw.

Additionally, Garton underreported his income -- which included the stolen funds -- to the IRS in 2016, failed to report that money from 2009 to 2016 "and intended to defraud the IRS of more than $350,000," prosecutors said.

Source: Fox News National

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Euro zone headline, core inflation slowdown confirmed for March

FILE PHOTO: The euro sign is photographed in front of the former head quarter of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The euro sign is photographed in front of the former head quarter of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

April 17, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone inflation slowed in March and the core figure dipped, the European Union’s statistics office said on Wednesday, confirming its initial estimates and providing an uncomfortable signal for the European Central Bank (ECB).

Eurostat said prices in the 19-nation currency bloc rose 1.4 percent in March on the year, from a 1.5 percent increase a month earlier, confirming the previous reading.

The ECB targets an inflation rate below, but close to 2.0 percent, and last week raised the prospect of more support for the euro zone in the face of an economic slowdown.

On the month, inflation accelerated to 1.0 percent, as markets had expected, from 0.3 percent in February.

The core indicator watched closely by the ECB for its monetary policy decisions, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, dropped to 1.0 percent in March on the year from 1.2 percent in February. That was the weakest reading since April 2018, Eurostat data showed, confirming earlier estimates.

This can add to the pressure on the ECB as it battles an economic slowdown which threatens to undo years of stimulus, while many of its own rate-setters think the bank’s economic projections are too optimistic.

A narrower inflation indicator that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco was also confirmed dipping to 0.8 percent from 1.0 percent a month earlier.

Inflation was held back by a slowdown in price rises of food, alcohol and tobacco, which rose 1.8 percent on the year in March after a 2.3 percent rise in February.

Inflation in the services sector, the largest in the euro zone economy, also slowed to 1.1 percent from 1.4 percent in February.

Energy prices were the only major component of the index that accelerated in March, to a rise of 5.3 percent year-on-year from 3.6 percent in February.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)

Source: OANN

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Trump: 'I Know Nothing' About Kushner's WhatsApp Messaging

President Donald Trump on Friday said he knew nothing about son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner's use of the WhatsApp encrypted messaging tool, a day after a top Democratic congressman pressed the White House for information on the issue.

Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, on Thursday asked the White House about Kushner's use of the Facebook Inc-owned messaging application as part of his government work.

In a letter to the White House, seen by Reuters, Cummings said Kushner's lawyer Abbe Lowell had told lawmakers that Kushner used WhatsApp for official duties, a move that would violate current law prohibiting White House officials from using non-official electronic messaging accounts.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump denied any knowledge of Kushner's unofficial communications.

"I know nothing about it. I've never heard that, I've never heard about it," the Republican president said.

Representatives for Cummings had no immediate comment.

In his letter on Thursday, Cummings said Lowell also told Congress that Ivanka Trump - the president's daughter, Kushner's wife and also a top White House adviser - continued to use a personal email account for official business. That would also violate the Presidential Records Act.

Lowell, in a reply to Cummings, denied telling lawmakers that Kushner had communicated through any app with foreign "leaders" or "officials" but said Kushner had used such apps for communicating with "some people," who were not specified.

Lowell also denied commenting on Ivanka Trump's personal email account, saying the president's daughter "always forwards official business to her White House account."

In the 2016 presidential race, Trump railed against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, for her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, inspiring chants at his rallies of "lock her up."

The FBI and the Department of Justice investigated Clinton but brought no charges.

Kushner's communications, particularly with foreign leaders, have been under scrutiny since the presidential campaign, and questions have been raised about his security clearance.

Separately, the Washington Post reported that Democratic leaders of six House committees planned to call on several federal agencies to preserve information they have given Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team for its investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The request will go to the Department of Justice, the FBI and the White House counsel's office, among others, the Post said, citing unnamed congressional aides familiar with the plan.

Cummings, in an essay in the Washington Post this week, said the White House so far has refused to respond to 12 letters seeking information on various topics and that his panel may have to issue subpoenas.

"If our committee must resort to issuing subpoenas, there should be no doubt about why," Cummings wrote. "This has nothing to do with presidential harassment and everything to do with unprecedented obstruction."

Trump has called Mueller's probe a "witch hunt" and has blasted House Democrats' investigations, likening them to "presidential harassment." Russia has rejected the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that it interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump's campaign.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Rep. Nadler: Barr ‘Disingenuous, Misleading’ on Report

Attorney General William Barr was "disingenuous and misleading" when he said special counsel Robert Mueller's report cleared President Donald Trump of wrongdoing and ignored what was in the report itself, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said Thursday, adding Congress must have the opportunity to see the full unredacted report and its supporting evidence.

"It is clear that special counsel's office conducted an incredibly thorough investigation and the special counsel made clear he did not exonerate the president, and the responsibility now falls to Congress to hold the president accountable for his action," Rep. Nadler said in a press conference.

Earlier on Thursday, just after Barr presented his outline of Mueller's report, Nadler said he had sent Mueller a letter requesting his testimony before his committee by May 23. Thursday afternoon, he said that testimony is vital, as Barr's summary on the report differed from the findings themselves.

"It's no longer surprising" Barr decided to withhold the full report from Congress, Nadler said, as he has also refused to provide the documentation that has been requested through his committee.

"We clearly can't believe what Attorney General Barr tells us," Nadler said. "Congress must bet the full unredacted along with the evidence by counsel Mueller. Congress requires this material to perform our constitutionally mandated responsibilities."

Meanwhile, Nadler said he does think Mueller wrote the report as a "roadmap" for its continued investigation, but Barr is trying to frustrate that intent through redactions and other actions.

He also said it is still "too soon" to be discussing possible impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Source: NewsMax America

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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)

Source: OANN

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Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba
Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique April 26, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media. SolidarMed via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

JOHANNESBURG/LUANDA (Reuters) – Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.

The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1,000 people across a swathe of southern Africa.

The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600 millimeters of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice that brought by Cyclone Idai.

One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.

In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90 percent of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15,000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.

There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia district, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo.

A local group, the Friends of Pemba Association, had earlier reported that they could not reach people in Muidumbe, a district further inland.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned the storm could require another major humanitarian operation in Mozambique.

“Cyclone Kenneth marks the first time two cyclones have made landfall in Mozambique during the same season, further stressing the government’s limited resources,” he said in a statement.

FLOOD WARNINGS

Shaquila Alberto, owner of the beach-front Messano Flower Lodge in Macomia, said there were many fallen trees there, and in rural areas people’s homes had been damaged. Some areas of nearby Pemba had no power.

“Even my workers, they said the roof and all the things fell down,” she said by phone.

Further south, in Pemba, Elton Ernesto, a receptionist at Raphael’s Hotel, said there were fallen trees but not too much damage. The hotel had power and water, he said, while phones rang in the background. “The rain has stopped,” he added.

However Michael Charles, an official for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said heavy rains over the next few days were likely to bring a “second wave of destruction” in the form of flooding.

“The houses are not all solid, and the topography is very sandy,” Charles said.

In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.

Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alexandra Zavis)

Source: OANN

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A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Surging global oil prices will pose a first big challenge to India’s new government, whoever wins an election now under way, especially as domestic prices have been allowed to lag, meaning consumers are in for a painful surge as they catch up.

For oil-import dependent India, higher global prices could lead to a weaker rupee, higher inflation, the ruling out of interest rate cuts and could further weigh on twin current account and budget deficits, economists warned.

But compounding the future pain, state-run fuel suppliers and retailers have held off passing on to consumers the higher prices during a staggered general election, which began on April 11 and ends on May 23, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That delay is expected to be unwound once the election is over. And there could be additional price increases to make up for losses or profits missed during the period of delayed increases, the sources said.

In some major Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, pump prices are adjusted periodically so they move largely in tandem with international crude prices.

That was what was supposed to happen in India but the election means there have been many days when pump prices have been unchanged.

In New Delhi, for example, while crude oil prices have gone up by nearly $9 a barrel, or about 12 percent, in the past six weeks, gasoline prices have only risen by 0.47 rupees a liter, or 0.6 percent.

State-controlled fuel suppliers and retailers declined to say why they had delayed price increases, or discuss whether there has been any pressure from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A government spokesman declined to comment.

The opposition Congress party said Modi’s government was violating its own policy of daily price revision by advising the state oil companies to hold prices steady.

“The government should cut fuel taxes otherwise consumers will have to pay much higher oil prices once the elections are over,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior leader of the Congress party.

(GRAPHIC: India Polls: Fuel price hike lags crude surge – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XLlxik)

Nitin Goyal, treasurer at the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, representing fuel stations in 25 states, said prices were similarly held down for 19 days in the southern state of Karnataka last year, when it held state assembly elections.

Only for them to surge after the vote.

“Consumers should be ready for a rude shock of a massive jump in retail prices, similar to the level we have seen in the Karnataka state election,” Goyal said.

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at Singapore-based consultancy FGE, said retail prices of gasoline and gasoil prices would have been up to 6 percent, or about 4 rupee, higher if they had been allowed to rise in line with global prices.

“Indian pump prices have failed to keep up with the recent uptrend in crude prices,” Paravaikkarasu said.

“With the country’s general elections underway, the incumbent government has been keeping pump prices relatively unchanged.”

India had switched to a daily price revision in June 2017 from a revision every two weeks, as the government allowed retailers to set prices.

But the government faced protests last October when retailers raised prices by up to 10 rupees a liter after the crude oil price went above $80 a barrel, forcing it to cut fuel taxes.

Global prices rose to their highest level in 2019 on Thursday, days after the United States announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers including India to stop buying Tehran’s oil. [O/R]

Higher oil prices will mean Asia’s third largest economy is likely to see growth of less than 7 percent rate this fiscal year, economists said. Growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the October-December quarter, the slowest in five quarters.

Rating agency CARE has warned that a 10 percent rise in global oil prices could increase demand for dollars, putting pressure on the rupee and widening the current account deficit.

India’s oil import bill rose by nearly one-third in the fiscal year ending March 31 to $140.5 billion, against $108 billion the previous year.

“The increase in international oil prices is a credit negative for the Indian economy,” ICRA, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said in a note.

“Every $10/ bbl increase in crude oil prices increases the fiscal deficit by about 0.1 percent of GDP.”

Any big price rise would also build a case for the central bank to keep rates steady, or even raise them.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which cut the benchmark policy repo rate by 25 basis points this month, warned that rising oil and food prices could push up inflation.

Policymakers are worried that a sustained increase in the oil price in the range of $70-75/barrel or higher can move the rupee down by 3-4 percent on an annual basis.

The rupee has depreciated by 1.24 percent against the dollar since a year high in mid-March.

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Rob Birsel)

Source: OANN

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