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France’s yellow vest protesters march despite bans, injuries

French yellow vest protesters are rallying to support an activist injured in a confrontation with police.

The demonstrators are undeterred by protest bans or repeated injuries in 20 weeks of demonstrations. So they're marching again Saturday in Paris, Bordeaux and other cities to keep pressing President Emmanuel Macron to do more to help the working classes, redesign French politics — or step down altogether.

They're also showing solidarity with Genevieve Legay, a 73-year-old anti-globalization activist who suffered a head injury in the southern city of Nice last weekend. The Nice prosecutor said a police officer pushed her down.

"We are all Genevieve!" read an online appeal for Saturday's protests.

The main Paris protest will start to weave through the Left Bank and past the Eiffel Tower. Protests are banned around the Champs-Elysees, scene of recent rioting.

Source: Fox News World

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White House Predicts 10-Year Economic Boom

Contrary to the views of most economists, the Trump administration expects the U.S. economy to keep booming over the next decade on the strength of further tax cuts, reduced regulation, and improvements to the nation's infrastructure.

The annual report from President Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers forecasts that the economy will expand a brisk 3.2 percent this year and a still-healthy 2.8 percent a decade from now. That is much faster than the Federal Reserve's long-run forecast of 1.9 percent annual economic growth.

The administration's forecast hinges on an expectation that it will manage to implement further tax cuts, incentives for infrastructure improvements, new labor policies and scaled-back regulations — programs that are unlikely to gain favor with the Democratic-led House that would need to approve most of them.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House council, insisted that the president's economic agenda would provide enough fuel to drive robust growth at a time when the majority of economists foresee a slowdown due in part to the aging U.S. population.

He said the biggest risk to growth would be if financial markets anticipate that Trump's existing policies would be reversed. Without getting into specifics, Hassett said the risk would be if markets expect that the winner of the 2020 presidential election would shift away from policies such as the tax overhaul that Trump signed into law in 2017.

"Uncertainty over the policies themselves could slow their positive impact," Hassett said.

The tax cuts added roughly $1.5 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade, not accounting for economic growth. The report suggests that the lower tax rates have increased business investment in ways that will make the economy more productive, while also creating a surge in people coming off the sidelines to search for work.

The administration's optimism comes amid signs of slowing global economic growth, as well as a recent slowdown in manufacturing production and weakness in retail sales in January and December.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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War Room – 2019-Apr 02, Tuesday – Democrats Attempt To Break The Law And Release Grand Jury Testimony Of Mueller Investigation

In today’s War Room, Attorney Robert Barnes is in studio to discuss the latest when it comes to the Covington Catholic lawsuit, the illegal behavior of Democrats when it comes to the Grand Jury testimony being released. We also are joined by Elijah Schafer and Kaitlin Bennett.

GUEST // (OTP/Skype) // TOPICS:
Robert Barnes//In Studio
Elijah Schaffer//Skype
Kaitlin Bennett//Skype

Source: The War Room

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Golf: Thompson, Ko and Kim fly into clubhouse lead at ANA

LPGA: ANA Inspiration - First Round
Apr 4, 2019; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Lexi Thompson tees off on the second hole during the first round of the ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills CC - Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

April 4, 2019

(Reuters) – Back at the site of the biggest win of her career and also her greatest heartbreak, American Lexi Thompson used a hot putter to earn a share of the first-round lead at the ANA Inspiration in California on Thursday.

Thompson complimented her caddie after switching clubs for her pitch into the par-five 18th, which she birdied for a three-under-par 69 matched by South Koreans Ko Jin-young and Kim Hyo-joo at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage.

They led by one stroke from a large group including American Jessica Korda and New Zealander Lydia Ko with half the field back in the clubhouse.

An ample serving of rough greeted the 112-woman field for the first major of the year, and Thompson found it more often than she would have liked on a day when her driving was not the straightest.

“It was a little bit of an up-and-down day,” American Thompson told reporters. “I hit some great shots and then hit some poor ones off the tee.

“I made some great putts, which is always a big confidence booster for me. Overall I could have hit it better, but still not complaining.”

Thompson’s lone major victory came at Mission Hills in 2014, but three years later she was in tears after incurring a four-stroke penalty for a putting rules violation on the way to losing a playoff to Ryu So-yeon.

Joint leader Ko continued the sizzling form that has made her the hottest player in the women’s game over the past few weeks.

She has a first, second and third in her past three LPGA starts, and Thursday was another good day at the office.

Asked what the key to her round was, Ko was succinct.

“I hit the fairway, so hit the green, two-putt, that’s it,” she said.

Compatriot Kim also came into the event in form after shooting 62 in the final round at the Kia Classic on Sunday.

“I really wanted to be able to take that level into this week of a major,” she said. “Everything really came together today.”

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Ian Ransom)

Source: OANN

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TIME Editor-At-Large Is Freaking Out Because An Amtrak Attendant Made Fun Of Him On The Acela

Betsy Rothstein | Reporter

When you’re riding a fancy, pricy train from New York to Washington and you’re a journalist working as a big editor at TIME, you want people to treat you with the respect you deserve. So when an Amtrak attendant makes fun of you for ordering a hot dog as you’re approaching the nation’s capital, raise the bridge and send the worker to the alligators.

If only the proles would just get in line and treat our intelligentsia with the respect they deserve.

“I order a hot dog on the Acela,” tweeted Anand Giridharadas, TIME‘s editor-at-large and a MSNBC analyst and “Morning Joe” regular, on Friday afternoon “The attendant laughs at me. Mean-laughs. I ask why. ‘Because we’re going to be in DC in a few minutes, and you want a hot dog.’ ?????? I feel like I’m in a play whose tickets I couldn’t afford. We are not yet in Baltimore. Half an hour to go.”

The attendant mean laughed at him?

Is he five years old?

A one-way ticket to Washington on the Acela express can cost anywhere from $173 to over $400 smackers if you opt for first class.

But this guy is not done complaining about hot dogs.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time he has gotten all cranky about something stupid. (RELATED: Journo Acts Like A Baby About His Hair)

He also once gave MSNBC host Joe Scarborough‘s hairdo quite a challenge when he went on the show with bigger hair. (RELATED: Is This Dude Mocking Joe Scarborough’s Hair?)

But let’s get back to those hot dogs and that journalist on an expensive train ride. Don’t you know who he is??!!

Anand wrote, “I’m trying to understand the contradiction in his mind between imminent arrival in a city and wanting a hot dog. For me, these are almost inextricable.”

Right, because this is an exercise in intellectual thought.

When asked if he ever got the hot dog, he replied, “No, he really didn’t seem to want to serve the hot dog. I didn’t push too far. I walked away from the hot dog. Which was hard, it being a hot dog.”

The journalist had the courage to walk away from hot dog.

But not without whining about it.

“It’s been nearly half an hour,” he complained. “We are not yet in DC. And I am acutely aware that I could have eaten somewhere between seven and 70 dogs since my request for a dog was scolded.”

That’s quite an undertaking: consuming 70 hot dogs in 30 minutes.

I’d like to see that. If Mr. Giridharadas would like to prove his hot dog eating prowess, I’m sure I could persuade The Daily Caller‘s video team to accommodate him.

Source: The Daily Caller

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Sri Lanka media rights activists decry new anti-terror laws

Media rights activists are urging the Sri Lankan government to withdraw proposed anti-terror legislation, calling it is a set of draconian laws aimed at suppressing the media freedom and democratic rights.

The new Counter-Terrorism bill approved by the cabinet of ministers is now before the Parliament. A date has yet to be announced for a debate and a vote on the bill, which the government says would repeal the existing tough anti-terror law.

C. Dodawatta, convener of the Free Media Movement, a local media rights group, said the proposed law could be used to arrest and detain journalists for distributing or making available any information to the public.

Journalists also could be arrested for not revealing their sources under the new law.

Source: Fox News World

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Report describes toxic relationship between Rodgers, McCarthy

NFL: Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks
FILE PHOTO: Nov 15, 2018; Seattle, WA, USA; Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy speaks with a referee during a third quarter replay review against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

April 4, 2019

A day after ESPN aired an interview with former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy discussing how he was dismissed by the team last December, an explosive report looked at the complicated and disastrous relationship between McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers and how it impacted the team.

Reporter Tyler Dunne dissected the situation in a lengthy story for Bleacher Report, published Thursday, and concluded that the coach-quarterback duo had a frosty relationship since the beginning of McCarthy’s tenure in 2006. That was the year after McCarthy, who previously was the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, favored Utah quarterback Alex Smith over Cal quarterback Rodgers.

The 49ers took Smith with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft. After an agonizing wait of more than four hours, Rodgers heard his name called by the Packers with the No. 24 overall pick.

“Aaron’s always had a chip on his shoulder with Mike,” said Ryan Grant, a Packers running back from 2007-12. “The guy who ended up becoming your coach passed on you when he had a chance. Aaron was upset that Mike passed on him — that Mike actually verbally said that Alex Smith was a better quarterback.”

Dunne interviewed dozens of players and coaches who gave insight into the complicated relationship and tried to help him place blame on why the Packers never turned into a New England Patriots-like dynasty. McCarthy and Rodgers won just one Super Bowl together — Super Bowl XLV in 2011.

According to Dunne: “One ex-Packers scout puts it on both. He describes Rodgers as an arrogant quarterback quick to blame everyone but himself — one who’s ‘not as smart as he thinks he is’ –yet kindly points out that McCarthy basically quit on his team.

Other points made in the lengthy article:

–McCarthy missed team meetings to have massages in his office, sneaking the therapist up the back stairway as meetings took place in the building.

–Former general manager Ted Thompson used to fall asleep in meetings.

–Rodgers routinely would disagree with McCarthy’s play calls and improvise his own plays. One source said Rodgers claimed McCarthy had “one of the lowest (football) IQs, if not the lowest IQ, of any coach he’s ever had.”

–Assistant coach Alex Van Pelt, who had developed a good working relationship with Rodgers, wasn’t brought back when his contract expired because McCarthy felt threatened by Van Pelt.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London
Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London, Britain, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Gerhard Mey

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rockers The Cranberries are saying goodbye with their final album released on Friday, a poignant tribute to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan who died last year.

“In the End” is the eighth studio album from the band that rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits likes “Zombie” and “Linger”, and includes the final recordings by O’Riordan, who drowned in a London hotel bath in January 2018 due to alcohol intoxication.

Work on the album began during a 2017 tour and by that winter, O’Riordan and guitarist Neil Hogan had penned and demoed 11 tracks.

With O’Riordan’s vocals recorded, Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler completed the album in tribute to her.

“When we realized how strong the songs were, that was the deciding factor really… There was no point… trying to ruin the legacy of the band,” Noel Hogan said in an interview.

“It was obvious that Dolores wanted this album done because when you hear the album, you hear the songs and how strong they are, and she was very, very excited to get in and record this.”

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989 with another singer. O’Riordan replaced him a year later and the group went on to become Ireland’s best-selling rock band after U2, selling more than 40 million records.

O’Riordan, known for her strong distinctive voice singing about relationships or political violence, was 46 when she died.

“She was actually in quite a good place mentally. She was feeling quite content and strong and looking forward to a new phase of her life,” Lawler said.

“A lot of the lyrics in this album are about things ending… people might read into it differently but it was a phase of her personal life that she was talking about.”

The group previously announced their intention to split after the release of “In The End”.

“We are absolutely gutted we can’t play (the songs) live because that’s something that’s been a massive part of this band from day one,” Noel Hogan said.

“A few people have said to us about maybe even doing a one off where you have different vocalists… as kind of guests of ours. A year ago that’s definitely something we weren’t going to entertain but I don’t know, I think it’s something we need to go away and take time off for the summer and have a think about.”

Critics have generally given positive reviews of the album; NME described it as “(seeing) the band’s career go full-circle” while the Irish Times called it “an unexpected late career high and a remarkable swan song for O’Riordan”.

Their early songs still play on the radio. This week, “Dreams” was performed at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in Londonderry last week as she watched Irish nationalist youths attack police following a raid.

“We wrote them as kids, as a hobby and 30 years later they are on radio and on TV, like all the time… That’s far more than any of us ever thought we would have,” Noel Hogan said.

“That would make Dolores really happy because she was very precious about those songs. Her babies, she called them and to have that hopefully long after we’re gone… that’s all any band can wish for.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additoinal reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.

The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.

(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)

(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)

The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.

The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.

“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.

The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.

Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.

In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.

Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – Deloitte quit as Ferrexpo’s auditor on Friday, knocking its shares by more than 20 percent, days after saying it was unable to conclude whether the iron ore miner’s CEO controlled a charity being investigated over its use of company donations.

Blooming Land, which coordinates Ferrexpo’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, came under scrutiny after auditors found holes in the charity’s statements.

Ferrexpo on Tuesday said findings of an ongoing independent investigation launched in February indicated some Blooming Land funds could have been “misappropriated”. It did not provide any details or publish its findings.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry, were 23.4 percent lower at 206.1 pence at 1022 GMT following news of Deloitte’s resignation.

“Ferrexpo’s shares are deeply discounted vs peers … following the resignation of Deloitte, we expect downside risks to dominate Ferrexpo’s shares near term.” JP Morgan analyst Dominic O’Kane said in a note on Friday.

Swiss-headquartered Ferrexpo did not provide a reason for the resignation of Deloitte, which declined to comment, while Blooming Land did not respond to a request for comment.

Funding for Blooming Land’s CSR activities is provided by one of Ferrexpo’s units in Ukraine and Khimreaktiv LLC, an entity ultimately controlled by Ferrexpo’s CEO and majority owner Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo said on Tuesday.

Ferrexpo’s board has found that Zhevago did not have significant influence or control over the charity, but Deloitte said it was unable reach a conclusion on this.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

In a qualified opinion, a statement addressing an incomplete audit, Deloitte said it had been unable to conclude whether $33.5 million of CSR donations to Blooming Land between 2017 and 2018 was used for “legitimate business payments for charitable purposes”.

Deloitte said on Tuesday that total CSR payments made to Blooming Land by Ferrexpo since 2013 total about $110 million.

Ferrexpo, whose major mines are in Ukraine, has said that the investigation was ongoing and new evidence pointed to potential discrepancies.

Zhevago, 45, who ranked 1,511 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires for 2019 with a net worth of $1.4 billion, owns the FC Vorskla soccer club and has been a member of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Bernard Orr)

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

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FLOOD WARNINGS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A government spokesman declined to comment.

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

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

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

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

Only for them to surge after the vote.

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

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

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

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