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Reputed Gambino crime boss killed in New York City tried dodging bullets by hiding under SUV, cops say

The reputed boss of New York’s Gambino crime family who was shot to death in front of his home tried to hide under his own SUV during the shooting, according to new reports.

Police said Thursday they were reviewing surveillance-camera video of the attack on Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, 53, who was gunned down Wednesday night at his red-brick colonial-style house in a quiet Staten Island neighborhood. The shooter sped off in a pickup truck, police said. No immediate arrests were made.

“What I believe happened was Mr. Cali was struck several times by gunfire. In trying to elude additional gunfire, fled to the rear area of his private vehicle and somebody probably thought he was run over, but it was more he was trying to get underneath the truck to elude gunfire,” Chief of Detectives Dermott Shea told reporters at a news conference, as The New York Post reported.

The mobster emerged from his home around 9:15 p.m. after the gunman backed his pickup into Cali’s Cadillac SUV, damaging it, according to police. “With what we know at this point in time, it’s quite possible that was part of a plan,” Shea said.

Video showed the attacker pulling a 9 mm handgun and opening fire on Cali about a minute after they started talking, according to Shea. At least 12 shots were fired. After he was shot several times, Cali tried to crawl under his SUV to hide, Shea said.

Footage seemed to show that Cali had been drawn out of his house after a pickup truck backed into the SUV, forcing the license plate to detach, a law-enforcement official who saw the video told the Daily Beast.

WOMAN GUZZLES DOWN 6-PACK OF BEER INSIDE TARGET DRESSING ROOM, STEALS $200 IN MERCHANDISE, COPS SAY

Aggressive federal prosecutions in the past 25 years have decimated the ranks of New York’s five Mafia families. The cases resulted in long prison terms for their bosses — Cali’s swaggering 1980s-era predecessor John Gotti included — and encouraged their successors to keep a lower profile.

But, the new generation still has engaged in old-school crimes — loansharking, gambling, extortion — that can make enemies and spark bloodshed.

Shea said there has been a slight uptick in alleged mob-related violence in New York within the last year.

But, he said it was too soon to say whether that had anything to do with Cali’s slaying.

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Federal prosecutors referred to Cali in court filings in recent years as the underboss of the Mafia’s Gambino family, once one of the most powerful and feared crime organizations in the country. News accounts since 2015 said he had ascended to the top spot.

The last Mafia boss to be rubbed out in New York City was Gambino don “Big Paul” Castellano, assassinated at Gotti’s direction while getting out of a black limousine outside a high-end Manhattan steakhouse in 1985. Gotti then took control of the family.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from The New York Post.

Source: Fox News National

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Mormon leaders talk spirituality, not changes, at conference

Leaders with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered spiritual guidance aimed at strengthening members' faith amid a world of temptation and immorality during the opening session of a church conference Saturday in Utah.

Church members are bracing for more changes during the two-day conference because church President Russell M. Nelson has made a flurry of moves in his first year at the helm, including the surprising repeal of policies that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and labeled people in same-sex marriages as sinners eligible for expulsion.

But speeches given during Saturday morning's opening session inside the religion's 20,000-seat conference center auditorium instead focused exclusively on recommendations for how church members can become stronger spiritually. Nelson has not yet spoken. Four more sessions are planned through Sunday.

Ulisses Soares, a Brazilian-born member of a top governing panel called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, cited Nelson's recent remarks about a world with "rampant immorality and addictive pornography" as he told members to root their families in the teachings of Christ and never reject family members or friends who stray from the correct path.

"If that happens with your dear ones, fill your hearts with compassion, run to them, fall on their neck, and kiss them, like the father of the prodigal son did," Soares said. "Keep living a worthy life, be a good example to them of what you believe, and draw close to our savior Jesus Christ."

Becky Craven, a member of the Young Women General Presidency, dovetailed on Soares' speech by instructing members not to fall victim to temptation and be diligent following the faith's teachings. Craven advised members to make sure they don't let modern fashion prevent them from dressing modestly, especially in worship settings.

"As a covenant people, we are not meant to blend in with the rest of the world," Craven said. "We have been called a peculiar people - what a compliment. As the influences of the world increasingly embrace the evil, we must strive with all diligence to stay firmly on the path that leads us safely to the savior."

The Utah-based faith teaches abstinence from alcohol, instructs members to wait until marriage to engage in sexual relations and encourages a modest dress code. The faith opposes same-sex relationships. The religion, widely known as the Mormon church, also asks members to avoid coffee and hot drinks as part of its health code.

The conference brings about 100,000 people to Salt Lake City to watch five sessions in person and millions more watch live broadcasts and livestreams.

Dieter Uchtdorf, a longtime member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, issued a plea for members to openly discuss their faith with others in ways that feels normal and natural and embrace the proselytizing component of the faith. He said church members can share their faith through an act of kindness or by posting testimonials on social media.

Uchtdorf encouraged members to talk about the new shortened Sunday worship schedule, from three hours to two, or explain the faith's push for use of the full name that emphasizes the faith's belief it is the "Church of Jesus Christ." The religion is trying to end the use of previously accepted shorthand names "Mormon" and "LDS."

Church membership growth has decreased in recent years and the number of convert baptisms in 2017 reached the lowest level in 30 years.

Uchtdorf advised members not to get discouraged by people who don't immediately accept an invitation to join, suggesting patience is key.

"If we interact with people with the sole expectation that they soon will don a white jumpsuit and ask for directions to the nearest baptismal font, we're doing it wrong," said Uchtdorf, referring to a baptismal ceremony for new members. "Some who come and see will, perhaps, never join the church; some will at a later time. That is their choice. But that doesn't change our love for them."

Nelson, 94, ascended to the presidency in January 2018 after nearly three decades in a governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve that helps the president lead the faith.

He has already launched a campaign calling on people to stop using the shorthand names "Mormon" and "LDS," severed the faith's ties with the Boy Scouts of America after a century, revised how leaders handle closed-door interviews with young people and changed rules to allow missionaries to speak with their families more often.

Church leaders don't always announce new initiatives or make church news at the conference, but Nelson's busy tenure so far has members and onlookers on high alert.

Source: Fox News National

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Tennis: Brazil’s Souza provisionally suspended amid corruption probe

Brazil's Souza plays a shot during his Davis Cup tennis match against Argentina's Mayer in Buenos Aires
FILE PHOTO: Brazil's Joao Souza plays a shot during his Davis Cup tennis match against Argentina's Leonardo Mayer in Buenos Aires, March 8, 2015. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

April 19, 2019

(Reuters) – Brazilian Joao Souza has been provisionally suspended for the second time this year amid a corruption investigation, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said on Friday.

Souza, ranked 422nd in the world, was initially suspended on March 29 due to alleged breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program but was reinstated this month following a successful appeal.

However, the TIU said the suspension has been reimposed “following consideration of additional evidence”, adding that no more appeals will be accepted.

“The effect of the provisional suspension is that Mr Souza is ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned event organized or recognized by the governing bodies of the sport,” the TIU said in a statement http://www.tennisintegrityunit.com/media-releases/brazilian-tennis-player-joao-souza-provisionally-suspended-independent-anti-corruption-hearing-officer.

Souza, who turned professional in 2006, has never won an ATP Tour title as he has spent the majority of his career on the Challenger circuit.

The 30-year-old reached his career-high singles ranking of number 69 in 2015.

More tennis players were disciplined for violations of anti-corruption rules in 2018 than in any other year since the creation of the TIU 10 years ago.

Eight lifetime bans were imposed last year, most notably to Italian former world number 49 Daniele Bracciali for match-fixing and facilitating betting.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, eiting by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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Muskrat love: Detroit-area Catholics permitted to eat rodent

Detroit-area Roman Catholics have one more dining option during Lent than most other followers of the faith. The culinary appeal of that item, however, is up for debate.

A long-standing permission allows local Catholics to eat muskrat — a furry, marsh-dwelling rodent native to the area — "on days of abstinence, including Fridays of Lent," according to the Archdiocese of Detroit. The custom dates to the region's missionary history in the 1700s and is especially prevalent in communities along the Detroit River.

Missionary priests "realized that food was especially scarce in the region by the time Lent came around and did not want to burden Catholics unreasonably by denying them one of the few readily available sources of nutrition — however unappetizing it might be for most folks," said Edward Peters, an expert on canon law who is on the faculty at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

The Rev. Tim Laboe grew up in an area of Michigan where the practice has long been a tradition and recalls sitting down for muskrat dinners with his grandfather.

"I don't know if I enjoy more eating the muskrat or watching people try it for the first time, because it doesn't look in any way appetizing," said Laboe, dean of studies at Sacred Heart.

Laboe said some people describe it as tasting like duck, but he disagrees: "I think muskrat tastes like muskrat, and I don't think I can compare it to anything else."

Muskrats eat mostly plants and vegetation. Including their tails, the critters are about 20 to 25 inches long (51 to 63.5 centimeters) and weigh between 2 and 5 pounds (0.91 and 2.27 kilograms).

Laboe, who said he enjoys the taste of the furry rodent despite its appearance, recalled a line he attributed to the late Bishop Kenneth Povish, the one-time head of the Lansing Diocese: "Anybody that eats muskrat is doing an act of penance worthy of the greatest of saints."

Jokes aside, Laboe said the long history of parishioners chowing down on muskrat in the weeks before Easter is in keeping with the meaning of the season.

"The people that ate muskrat many, many years ago were poor, and they didn't have much," he said. "And so, in terms of people that do eat it, it does remind us, at least it reminds me, of the poor."

Source: Fox News National

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Australia’s NAB ends ‘introducer’ referral payments after public criticism

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the National Australia Bank is displayed outside its headquarters building in central Sydney
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the National Australia Bank is displayed outside its headquarters building in central Sydney, Australia, Aug. 4, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

March 25, 2019

By Paulina Duran

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s National Australia Bank said on Monday it would end a profitable system of bonuses for referrals that was criticized by an independent inquiry.

NAB interim Chief Executive Officer and Chairman-elect Philip Chronican said scrapping the referral payments to businesses such as sport clubs and accountants would help to regain customer trust after the inquiry found widespread wrongdoing across the financial sector.

“We want customers to have the confidence to come to NAB because of the products and services we provide – not because a third party received a payment to recommend us,” Chronican said in a statement.

The government-backed inquiry heard that dozen of NAB bankers had falsified loan documents and signatures, and provided unsuitable loans to benefit from the scheme.

NAB’s introducer program brought in over A$24 billion ($17 billion) in home loans during the period when the misconduct occurred from 2013 to 2016, lawyers for the inquiry said.

Consumer group Choice said NAB’s move came too late given the inquiry had revealed Australia’s fourth-largest bank knew there were problems with the program in 2015.

“The Royal Commission revealed that many Australians were duped by introducers into unaffordable loans and defaulted as a result,” Patrick Veyret, CHOICE Policy and Campaigns Adviser said.

“It’s shameful it’s taken this long for them to act.”

(Reporting by Paulina Duran; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Source: OANN

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Woods’ Masters win earns man $1.2 million from first sports wager

Tiger woods celebrates after winning the 2019 Masters
Golf - Masters - Augusta National Golf Club - Augusta, Georgia, U.S. - April 14, 2019. Spectators applaud as Tiger Woods of the U.S. celebrates on the 18th hole to win the 2019 Masters. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 16, 2019

(Reuters) – A Wisconsin man who bet $85,000 on Tiger Woods to win the Masters was handed a check for $1.275 million by bookmaker William Hill on Monday.

A day after Woods came from behind to win his first major title in 11 years, a video circulating online showed James Adducci picking up his check at SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

The 39-year-old told Golf Digest that the 14-1 bet was his first sports wager. The stockbroker, who works from home, said he planned to spend the winnings on home improvements and paying off debts while investing the rest.

Reports said the net $1.19 million payout was the largest for a single ticket golf bet in the company’s history in the United States.

“Pretty good first bet,” Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill’s U.S. director of trading, told ESPN.

“It’s great to see Tiger back. It’s a painful day for William Hill — our biggest loss ever — but a great day for golf.”

William Hill was not the only bookmaker to feel the pain after the 43-year-old Woods secured his fifth green jacket at Augusta National.

SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas had a “high five-figure” net loss on its Masters futures, and offshore sportsbook BetOnline.ag said the surprise win produced the company’s biggest loss on a futures market, ESPN said.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

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Man fires on passengers in tram in Utrecht, Netherlands, several injured, attacker at large – media

Multiple shots were fired in a tram in a Dutch city of Utrecht, leaving several people injured, police said. Emergency services and anti-terror teams have arrived at the scene.

A square around a tram station outside downtown Utrecht is on lockdown following the shooting, local media reported. Police have cordoned off the area and adjacent streets, but the perpetrator managed to escape.

Ambulances and emergency services are also present although the number of injured is yet to be clarified.

Police said it’s looking at all pausible motifs of the shooting, including terrorism.

Medevac helicopters have been send in to airlift the wounded, Utrecht police have said. they also urged drivers to make way for medical vehicles.

U-OV, a local transport company, said tram services were suspended all around the city. As the situation developed, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte canceled the weekly coalition meeting and will consult with a crisis response team.

It is still unclear if the shooter acted alone or had accomplices. “A man started shooting wildly,” an eyewitness told Dutch news outlet NU.nl. But the AD.nl website cited a witness who said there were four gunmen who opened fire at a woman near the tram station.

24 Oktoberplein street, where the shooting took place, is an important traffic junction in Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands.

Source: InfoWars

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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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