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Apple’s Cook to China: keep opening for sake of global economy

FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing, China, March 18, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

March 23, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple chief executive Tim Cook nudged China on Saturday to open up and said the future would depend on global collaboration, as the United States and China remained locked in a bitter trade dispute.

“We encourage China to continue to open up, we see that as essential, not only for China to reach its full potential, but for the global economy to thrive,” Cook said at a China Development Forum in Beijing.

Despite official pledges and repeated assurances that China would continue to open its markets, some analysts worry that its reform project has slowed or even stalled under President Xi Jinping, who has sought greater control over the economy and a bigger role for state-owned firms at the expense of the private sector.

Cook’s comments come as Apple weathers sinking sales in China because of a contracting smartphone market, increasing pressure from Chinese rivals, and slowing upgrade cycles. The company reported a revenue drop of 26 percent in the greater China region during the quarter ending in December.

Before those results came out, in a January letter to investors, Cook blamed the company’s poor China performance on trade tension between the United States and China, suggesting that pressure on the economy was hurting sales in China.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Writing by John Ruwitch; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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Firm fined $3.3M for worst California oil spill in 25 years

A pipeline company was fined nearly $3.35 million on Thursday for causing the worst California coastal spill in 25 years.

A judge issued a fine and penalties against Plains All American Pipeline for a 2015 spill that sent 140,000 gallons of crude oil gushing onto Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles. The spill from a corroded pipeline blackened popular beaches for miles, killed wildlife and hurt tourism and fishing.

Federal inspectors found that Plains had made several preventable errors, failed to quickly detect the pipeline rupture and responded too slowly as oil flowed toward the ocean.

Plains operators working from a Texas control room more than 1,000 miles away had turned off an alarm that would have signaled a leak and, unaware a spill had occurred, restarted the hemorrhaging line after it had shut down, which only made matters worse, inspectors found.

Last year, a Santa Barbara County jury found the Houston-based company guilty of a felony count of failing to properly maintain its pipeline and eight misdemeanor charges, including killing marine mammals and protected sea birds.

Plains apologized for the spill and paid for the cleanup. The company's 2017 annual report estimated costs from the spill at $335 million, not including lost revenues.

The fine was well short of the more than $1 billion in penalties prosecutors had sought. However, additional damages could be levied at a July restitution hearing.

"We take our responsibility to safely deliver energy resources very seriously, and we are committed to doing the right thing," the Houston-based firm said in a statement Thursday. "We are sorry that this release happened, and we have and will continue to work hard to re-earn the trust of area residents."

The spill crippled the local oil business because the pipeline was used to transport crude to refineries from seven offshore rigs, including three owned by Exxon Mobil, that have been idle since the spill.

Plains has applied for permission to build a pipeline.

Conservation groups that oppose offshore drilling in the area are opposed.

"It's great to see Plains All American Pipeline held accountable for the ecological catastrophe they brought to the Gaviota Coast in 2015. That stretch of coastline has some of the last untouched bluffs and beaches in all of Southern California," Mark Morey, chairman of the Santa Barbara chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, said in a statement. "But the idea that this company would be permitted to continue operating in such a naturally rich and unique area is absurd."

Source: Fox News National

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How U.S. bike companies are steering around Trump’s China tariffs

Employees work on the production line of Kent bicycles at Shanghai General Sports Co., Ltd, in Kunshan
Employees work on the production line of Kent bicycles at Shanghai General Sports Co., Ltd, in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China, February 22, 2019. Picture taken February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

February 26, 2019

By Rajesh Kumar Singh

(Reuters) – U.S.-based bicycle manufacturer Kent International has found a way around President Donald Trump’s tariffs – by shifting production out of China.

Like almost all U.S. bike makers, Kent has long relied on low-cost Chinese labor and parts, but Trump’s tariffs have so far inflated his costs by about $20 million annually.

“We have no choice but to – as rapidly as possible – look to move production away from China,” said Arnold Kamler, chief executive and majority owner of the Parsippany, N.J.-based bike company.

But Kent and other bike makers don’t have to move their manufacturing operations to the United States to avoid tariffs – nor do they have to stop using Chinese parts.

The company now plans to make bike frames in Cambodia while continuing to buy about half the components it will attach to those frames from producers in China. The resulting bicycles can enter the United States tariff-free because of U.S. rules that generally allow products to be designated as made-in-Cambodia as long as 35 percent of their costs for parts and labor are derived from that country.

Gaming the so-called rules of origin is a legal tariff-avoidance strategy being adopted by other major U.S. bike builders and explored across the industry, along with other manufacturing sectors, according to bike executives and supply chain consultants.

The shift in the $6 billion bike industry underscores how such rules allow manufacturers, despite tariffs, to continue sourcing large portions of their parts from China, undermining the Trump administration goal of boosting U.S. manufacturing employment. It further shows how quickly light manufacturers with less capital-intensive operations can move to Southeast Asia, which has seen a blitz of new investment since Trump launched his first tariffs last spring.

The bike industry plays a small role in what experts call the biggest shake-up in cross-border supply chains since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Companies in an array of industries – furniture, electronics, apparel, tires, vacuum cleaners, to name a few – are moving operations to Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries, often while continuing to use some suppliers in China. [L4N1XV1EX]

“This is a mid- to long-term issue that is not going to blow over in a year,” said Brett Weaver, a supply-chain consultant at KPMG. “More and more companies are beginning to take that perspective.”

The Trump administration’s office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) did not respond to requests for comment.

RISING CHINA LABOR COSTS

For many companies, tariffs proved the deciding factor in moves already under consideration because of rising labor costs in China. Three decades ago, when Kamler first offshored Kent’s production, labor in China cost him 20 percent less than in the United States. That gap has narrowed to 5 percent, he said.

Kent currently sources nearly 90 percent of the 3 million bicycles it sells to Target, Walmart and other U.S. retailers from China. But sales took a hit after it raised prices in response to tariffs last September.

Kent’s new factory in Cambodia is estimated to cost $20 million – an amount equivalent to one year of Kent’s increased costs from Trump’s 10 percent tariffs, which were added to existing duties. Trump’s tariffs were set to rise to 25 percent on March 2, but on Sunday he delayed the increase, citing progress in trade talks with China.

Another major brand, Specialized Bicycle Components, has moved production from China to Cambodia, Vietnam and Taiwan, expanding its existing Southeast Asia operations, said Bob Margevicius, a vice president of the Morgan Hill, California-based bike maker. Smaller producer Pure Bicycles, based in Los Angeles, is preparing a move to Vietnam, said Michael Fishman, president of the Los Angeles-based firm.

Industry officials and supply chain consultants say all American bike-makers are considering similar moves to shield their low-margin businesses from tariffs.

“Their supply chains are disrupted,” said Morgan Lommele, a director at PeopleForBikes, an industry association. “They are looking at other countries.”

‘A WAKE-UP CALL’

All manufacturers face challenges in moving their operations to Southeast Asia, including constraints on port capacity and labor. And no country can easily supplant China’s scale and production volumes for bicycles after three decades of the industry migrating there from the United States.

In the 1970s, U.S.-based firms made more than 15 million bicycles annually, compared to fewer than 500,000 now, according to the data presented by the industry to the USTR last year. And 94 percent of U.S. bike imports currently come from China, U.S. Census data shows.

(GRAPHIC: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ElEW2d)

China also provides more than 300 million components such as tires, tubes, seats and handlebars – accounting for about 60 percent total component imports.

Specialized finished moving all its production out of China by December but, like Kent, will continue to buy components from there.

Trump’s tariffs provided a “wake-up call for the industry,” said Margevicius, who also serves on the board of an industry trade group, the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association.

CHINA FIGHTS BACK

Chinese authorities are keen to protect manufacturing jobs, too. To cushion the impact of tariffs, China has increased export tax rebates and quickened tax refunds to exporters, Margevicius said. It is also offering companies cheap loans.

A more than 5 percent decline in the value of the Chinese Yuan last year, along with forecasts of further depreciation this year, are also helping blunt the impact of higher U.S. duties.

Kent is, nonetheless, moving ahead with plans to start manufacturing in Cambodia in September, and Kalmer said it will shift the bulk of its production there over the long term. Lower labor costs were a major deciding factor in addition to tariffs, said Kalmer, who remains skeptical that Beijing will sustain its tax incentives to lower-end manufacturers as its economy shifts towards services, consumption and high-tech production.

South East Asian countries are also wooing firms exploring options outside China.

Cambodia has allowed Kent to bring in short-term workers from China. Thailand is promoting itself as a regional manufacturing hub, offering incentives such as an exemption of up to eight years on corporate income tax for certain industries and exemptions on import duties for some raw materials.

Vietnam has finalized 16 free trade agreements including with the European Union and is a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, offering companies almost duty-free access to big bike markets from Germany to Australia.

LOGISTICAL HURDLES

Specialized’s Margevicius advises companies considering a move to look carefully at whether locations outside China have the required infrastructure to meet their needs.

Each of the two biggest ports in Vietnam, for instance, has only a sixth of the capacity of the port of Shanghai, and Cambodia lacks a deep-water port to accommodate larger vessels.

The rush of manufacturers moving operations to Southeast Asia will also bring new competition to hire and train workers from a labor force far smaller than that of China.

Kamler is not deterred. Kent’s Chinese partner has already bought a plot for the Cambodian factory, five miles from downtown Phnom Penh. Construction is scheduled to start next month and finish by June.

The company will initially hire and train up to 300 workers to start the production. It will also bring in 100 robots from its Chinese facilities for welding work.

“We have a big business in the United States,” Kamler said. “My priority 1,2,3 and 4 is to rescue my USA business.”

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; editing by Joseph White and Brian Thevenot)

Source: OANN

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Dems Pave Way For Illegal Voters As Trump Demands More Border Money

If anyone is manufacturing facts concerning border security it is the leftist train wreck known as the Democratic Party.

The numbers the Democrats choose to ignore are staggering.

“The number of families snared trying to sneak into the U.S. soared by 50 percent in one month alone, setting an all-time record with more than 36,000 family members apprehended, Homeland Security officials announced Tuesday,” as reported by the Washington Times.

It is difficult to ignore the preferential consideration the illegal alien that murdered Mollie Tibbetts is receiving or the Somali gangs turning the streets of Minneapolis into a war zone.

It’s hard to forget that MS-13 is actively hunting off-duty New York Police as Fox News reported, “Intel has been obtained that members of MS13 are looking to ‘hit’ NYPD police officers, specifically in the Brentwood/Central Islip area, as well as possibly Patchogue in order to gain street credibility. These members are conducting reconnaissance of [member of service] private residences.”

It’s so bad that MS-13 has forced El Salvadoran police to flee El Salvador as The New Zealand Herald reported “They were given one of the most dangerous orders in policing: Take down MS-13. They were bankrolled by the United States and trained by FBI agents. But members of the Salvadoran police have been killed by the dozens in each of the past three years…Now, a number of El Salvador’s police officers are fleeing the gang they were tasked with eliminating…..the Washington Post has identified 15 officers in the process of being resettled as refugees by the United Nations and six officers who have either recently received asylum or have scheduled asylum hearings in US immigration courts.“

It’s hardly manufactured.

While Democrats claim the side-effects of illegal immigration are predominantly prevalent at points of entry, there are child molesters, drug dealers, and human traffickers frequently flowing into the interior of the United States because hundreds of miles of the southern border are wide open.

The bottom line is Democrats aren’t protecting our border because they are actually protecting the United Nations migration replacement plan.

Source: InfoWars

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Texas deputy dies days after shooting, cops want suspect charged with capital murder

A sheriff's deputy who was shot Friday in West Texas succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, authorities said.

Deputy Peter Herrera's death was confirmed by the El Paso County Sheriff's office in a statement on Facebook.

"We ask for your continued prayers and support for Deputy Herrera, his wife, his family and friends during their time of need," the statement read. No further details were released.

WASHINGTON STATE DEPUTY KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, ICE SAYS

Herrera was conducting a routine traffic stop early Friday morning in San Elizario -- about 25 miles southeast of El Paso -- when a man in the vehicle opened fire, striking Herrera multiple times, authorities said.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Robert Flores said Herrera did not return fire and the shooter fled on foot along with a female passenger. Deputies found the pair hiding in a tool shed a few blocks away from where the deputy was shot, Flores said.

Facundo Chavez, 27 was been booked into the El Paso County Jail without bond on multiple charges, including attempted capital murder of the peace officer.

Facundo Chavez, 27 was been booked into the El Paso County Jail without bond on multiple charges, including attempted capital murder of the peace officer. (El Paso County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The suspected gunman, Facundo Chavez, 27, remains in custody at the El Paso County Jail on an attempted capital murder charge.

Sheriff Richard Wiles said Chavez's charge will be upgraded to capital murder and added that he will request the death penalty, the El Paso Times reported.

Authorities said the woman who was with Chavez had cooperated with authorities and was later released from custody. Their relationship wasn't immediately clear.

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Authorities had said on Friday that they expected Herrera to survive the shooting because he was wearing a protective vest. Over the weekend, Herrera was listed in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery and was recovering in an area hospital. A Facebook fundraising campaign had been set up for Herrera Friday afternoon.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Trump says Dems have forsaken Mueller after treating him as ‘God-like’

President Trump blasted Democrats on Tuesday for shifting focus to a slew of other investigations into his administration now that the special counsel probe is over, saying the same lawmakers who treated Robert Mueller as “God-like” no longer “acknowledge his name.”

“Robert Mueller was a God-like figure to the Democrats, until he ruled No Collusion in the long awaited $30,000,000 Mueller Report. Now the Dems don’t even acknowledge his name, have become totally unhinged, and would like to go through the whole process again. It won’t happen!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.

HOUSE DEMS PREPARE FOR SUBPOENA BATTLE OVER MUELLER REPORT

Despite the president's comments, Democrats are still focused in part on the Mueller investigation -- namely, on getting access to the full report. Attorney General Bill Barr has said that he and the special counsel’s team are “well along in the process of identifying and redacting” sensitive material in the more than 300-page report and can likely have it to Congress by mid-April, “if not sooner.” But Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are preparing to authorize subpoenas for the report this week, giving the panel the option to pursue that route if necessary.

At the same time, congressional Democrats are escalating their own probes.

The president on Tuesday also blasted two of those lawmakers -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-N.Y., while giving the latter a Trump-esque nickname.

“There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!” Trump tweeted.

Minutes later, Schiff fired back.

“The House voted 420-0 to release the full Mueller report to the public. The American people overwhelmingly support the same. What are you afraid of, Mr. President?” Schiff tweeted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has also been vocal on calling for a full version of the Mueller report.

“The American people deserve and want the truth. Overwhelmingly you see that—whatever the truth—let the chips fall where they may—let’s show us the truth,” Pelosi said during a panel interview with Politico Tuesday. “There’s no reason why they couldn’t put some of this out…I know sources and methods, but that’s no excuse for hiding the truth from the American people.”

She added: “There will be a release of the Mueller report. “

The report was first transmitted to Barr at the Justice Department last month. Barr issued a four-page initial summary of Mueller’s findings to Congress and to the public just days after. Barr’s summary said that the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 presidential election.

Immediately, Democrats began demanding to view the full Mueller report and underlying evidence that brought the special counsel to its decision.

BARR TO RELEASE MUELLER REPORT TO CONGRESS BY 'MID-APRIL, IF NOT SOONER;' WILL NOT TRANSMIT TO WHITE HOUSE FOR PRIVILEGE REVIEW

Barr has indicated he does plan on sharing much of the report itself, noting that, with the help of the special counsel’s office, the Justice Department is reviewing material that “by law cannot be made public” -- covering “material the intelligence community identifies as potentially compromising sensitive sources and methods; material that could affect ongoing matters, including those that the Special Counsel has referred to other Department offices; and information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”

Barr added that: “Although the President would have the right to assert privilege over certain parts of the report, he has stated publicly that he intends to defer to me and, accordingly, there are no plans to submit the report to the White House for privilege review."

DEMS WHO FUMED AT NUNES FOR JEOPARDIZING 'SOURCES AND METHODS' NOW DEMAND MUELLER REPORT IN FULL

The special counsel also reviewed whether the president had obstructed justice in any way, but ultimately did not come to a conclusion on that issue. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, though, said the evidence was “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”

Nadler’s committee, meanwhile, sent document requests to 81 individuals and entities associated with the president last month as part of his investigation into “alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump."

Schiff’s panel is also investigating the president’s foreign business dealings and Russian election meddling, maintaining that there is evidence of collusion, despite Mueller’s findings.

The House Financial Serves Committee, led by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is also probing the president, coordinating with Schiff’s committee on money-laundering inquiries. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is also involved.

Source: Fox News Politics

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U.S.-China trade war is rerouting U.S. import flows: report

FILE PHOTO: Aides set up platforms before a group photo with members of U.S. and Chinese trade negotiation delegations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Aides set up platforms before a group photo with members of U.S. and Chinese trade negotiation delegations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China February 15, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS

April 10, 2019

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s trade war with China has U.S. companies shifting purchases of tariff-targeted products like furniture, refrigerators and car tires to countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico, according to a new analysis released on Wednesday.

Trump’s decision to slap tariffs of 10 to 25 percent on about $250 billion of Chinese goods has roiled U.S. retailers and manufacturers, who are scrambling to avoid potentially crippling cost increases.

Overall U.S. imports of containerized freight from China fell 6.4 percent during the first quarter as buyers worked off product stockpiled ahead of tariff increases and rerouted orders to lower-cost countries, S&P Global Market Intelligence’s trade data firm Panjiva said in the report.

U.S. imports of Chinese-made furniture by retailers such as IKEA, Home Depot, Target Corp and Room to Go fell 13.5 percent in the first quarter. That was partly offset by a 37.2 percent rise in shipments from Vietnam and a 19.3 percent increase in imports from Taiwan, Panjiva said.

The change also affected home appliances.

Imports of Chinese refrigerators fell 24.1 percent during the quarter, when shipments from South Korea and Mexico jumped 31.8 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

“A major factor in that shift has been a rearrangement in supply chains by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics,” Panjiva said in the report.

The auto industry has also been rethinking trade routes.

Tire imports from China slumped 28.6 percent during the first three months of the year. At the same time, U.S. sea ports saw a 141.7 surge in product from Vietnam and an 11.1 percent increase in tire shipments from South Korea. Hankook Tire and Nexen are among the suppliers picking up the new business, Panjiva said.

U.S. companies are also shifting factory investments in the wake of the China trade tiff, which a trio of economists estimate has already cost U.S. consumers and companies $19.2 billion.

Ohio-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co in December said it formed a joint venture with Sailun Vietnam Co Ltd. to build a truck and bus radial tire factory near Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.

“We are excited about this addition to our manufacturing footprint, which diversifies our sourcing to protect against risk, including tariffs,” Cooper Chief Financial Officer Christopher Eperjesy said in February, when the company announced a $34 million write-down on the value of a joint venture manufacturing project in China.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO - Otto Frederick Warmbier is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang North Korea
FILE PHOTO – Otto Frederick Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea’s top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of comatose American student Otto Warmbier.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from North Korea to cover its care of the college student, who died shortly after he was returned to the United States after 17 months in a North Korean prison.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Susan Heavey)

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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