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Holder: Dems Should 'Seriously' Consider Adding SCOTUS Seats

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that Democrats should "seriously" consider putting more seats on the Supreme Court if there is a Democratic president and a Democratic majority in the Senate.

Holder, during a talk with the Yale Law National Security Group, said Democrats should "seriously consider adding two seats to the Supreme Court to make up for [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-Ky.,] power-grabbing antics," according to The Daily Beast.
The discussion was not recorded, but a spokesperson for Holder confirmed the statement.

"In response to a question, Attorney General Holder said that given the unfairness, unprecedented obstruction, and disregard of historical precedent by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans, when Democrats retake the majority, they should consider expanding the Supreme Court to restore adherence to previously accepted norms for judicial nominations," spokesman Patrick Rodenbush told TDB.

"More and more Democrats are becoming convinced that we cannot resign ourselves to the third branch of government being captive to partisan Republican forces for the next 30 years," said Brian Fallon, who heads the left-leaning advocacy group Demand Justice. "Any progressive reforms that a Democratic president would pursue in 2021 would come under threat from the Supreme Court. Accepting the status quo on this issue is not going to fly and there is becoming a consensus that some type of reform needs to happen."

Source: NewsMax America

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Parents sue Planned Parenthood for failed abortion of their son, who just turned two

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February 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Imagine the following scenario. You are a happy boy, growing up in a middle-class home with your two siblings. You enjoy playing outdoors with them, school is going well, and you think the world of your parents. Your dad is your hero, and you love your mom more than anyone in the world. 

But one day, you Google your family’s name for a school assignment. Your teacher has assigned the class a project that has each student researching their family tree. And that is when you discover a series of news articles that appear to discuss your family. It seems a man and a woman with the same names as your father and your mother sued an abortion clinic after giving birth to a baby they had tried, unsuccessfully, to abort. 

The articles mention that there were already two children in the family, and it was the third baby they had tried to get rid of. With horror, you try to fight off an inescapable realization: You are the third and youngest child. If the parents in the articles are your parents, it means they traveled more than 700 miles from your home in Idaho to New Mexico to get an abortion. What is an abortion? You Google the word, and horrifying pictures of bloody, broken babies show up on the screen. The pictures blur as you sit and stare until your eyes water.

As unlikely as that story might sound, it may one day be true. Multiple media outlets reported this week that Bianca Coons and Cristobal Ruiz traveled from Idaho to the Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque in February 2016 when they discovered they were expecting their third child. They decided they could not afford another baby, and so they headed to New Mexico where they could escape the mandated waiting period in their home state that would have resulted in the baby being further along at the time of the abortion. Coons and Ruiz now claim they used all of their remaining resources to pay for the trip and the abortion, which cost $400.

The abortion failed, and their little son is now two-years-old. We know this because Coons and Ruiz are suing Planned Parenthood for failing to abort their baby boy, demanding that the abortion organization pay for the cost of raising him because “medical negligence” resulted in him being born alive in the first place. Additionally, they are suing for breach of contract—after all, they paid Planned Parenthood to kill him, and uncharacteristically, Planned Parenthood failed. The abortion clinic had offered them a medication abortion, and Coons had taken one pill at the clinic and one a day later. The first pill caused extreme dizziness and nausea.

But when Coons checked into a local emergency room back in Boise, Idaho, the physicians there told the dismayed mother that her baby was perfectly healthy despite having taken the first pill. The Planned Parenthood staff advised her to take the second pill, anyway. Perhaps that would kill the baby. But no such luck: Another round of blood work indicated that Coons’ son was a fighter, and he was still alive and well despite the best efforts of his parents and the abortion clinic staff. Coons and Ruiz felt betrayed. This, after all, was not what they had paid for.

Planned Parenthood offered her a follow-up abortion back in New Mexico, but the little boy’s parents couldn’t afford to go back and try again, and they said they couldn’t afford a home-turf abortion in Idaho, either. And so Coons reluctantly gave birth, and the couple is now suing Planned Parenthood for $765,000 for the cost of raising “an additional unplanned child.” The lawsuit states that, “the defendant’s failure to properly supervise and administer the abortion service directly resulted in the failure of the pregnancy termination which resulted in injury to plaintiffs’ interests in family planning and their interests in financial planning for the future of their family.”

Someday, this toddler will grow up. Someday, he will find out that his parents tried to abort him, and then resented raising him so much after that failed that they sued the abortion clinic that had failed to kill him for the cost of his life with them. When he does, he will be devastated. He will realize that his parents are sick people, that this is a sick culture, and that legal abortion has poisoned everything. That realization will be gut-wrenching, just as it has for each of us who have confronted this awful reality in one way or another in this growing culture of death.

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Q-Poll: DeSantis Has Highest Fla. Gov. Approval in 10 Years

Fifty-nine percent of Florida voters approve of the job Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is doing – the highest approval rating for a Sunshine State governor in 10 years, a new Quinnipiac University poll reveals.

Only 17 percent disapprove of the Republican's job performance.

Here are highlights of the Florida poll released Wednesday:

  • 82 percent of Republicans approve of the way DeSantis is handling his job, compared to 5 percent who do not.
  • 42 percent of Democrats approve of his job performance, while 28 percent disapprove.
  • 56 percent of independents approve of the way he is handling his job, compared to 17 percent who do not.
  • 71 percent say the state's economy is "excellent" or "good."
  • 27 percent say the economy is "not so good" or "poor."
  • 64 percent oppose offshore drilling in the ocean, while 29 percent are in favor.
  • 61 percent support DeSantis' proposal to require local law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities, while 27 percent do not.
  • 59 percent support stricter gun laws, while 37 percent are opposed.
  • 57 percent oppose trained teachers and school officials being allowed to carry guns on school grounds, compared to 40 percent who are in favor.
  • 50 percent approve of the job Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is doing, compared to 34 percent who disapprove.
  • 42 percent approve of the way Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is handling his job, while 38 percent disapprove.

The poll, conducted March 6-11, surveyed 1,058 Florida voters. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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White House’s Kudlow says Jerome Powell can turn into good Fed chairman

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell holds news conference following two-day policy meeting in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell holds a news conference following the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo/File Photo

April 11, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday that he has confidence in Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and believes he will turn into a good central bank chairman.

At a speaking event, Kudlow also said the White House is sticking by Herman Cain as a candidate for a Federal Reserve Board seat at the moment. President Donald Trump insists that Cain go through the Senate confirmation process but still supports him, said Kudlow.

(Reporting By Jeff Mason; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Alabama police chief “disgusted” by arrest video

An Alabama police chief said Wednesday that he is "disgusted" by a video recording showing an officer threatening and cursing a woman during a traffic stop that turned violent.

Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson commented during a news conference in which he released police bodycam video of the arrest of Jhasmynn Sheppard, 22. The way officers treated the woman was "not what we teach," he said.

Both an officer who initially stopped the woman and another officer who arrived as a backup have been placed on desk duty and face disciplinary procedures, Anderson said. He didn't release the full name of either man.

Sheppard was suspected of leaving the scene of a car accident Friday. The video shows an officer trying to handcuff her less than 10 seconds after requesting her driver's license. Another officer arrives moments later.

"Sir, please don't do me like this," the woman is heard saying early in the confrontation. She struggled as an officer tried to handcuff her, and both wound up on the pavement. Video shot by bystanders showed an officer hitting the woman with a collapsible baton.

The video released by Anderson shows an officer cursing the woman, threatening to kick out her teeth and saying he could have shot her. The initial physical confrontation between the officer and the woman appeared justified, the chief said, but the curses and threats were out of bounds.

Anderson said he was "disgusted" and "very disappointed" by the video, which he said shows officers violated department training throughout the encounter.

One officer's account of the arrest was previously detailed in court documents filed Tuesday.

The officer said the woman was making "furtive" movements and incoherent statements and then resisted arrest. The officer said the woman took his baton, but on video a man is heard claiming she grabbed his genitals.

Source: Fox News National

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Suspect held in 4 slayings at North Dakota business

A 44-year-old man was arrested Thursday in the slayings of four people who were shot or stabbed earlier this week at a property management business, police said.

Chief Jason Ziegler said surveillance video identified a vehicle of interest and helped lead them to the suspect, who lived in the small town of Washburn about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Mandan.

Ziegler said a motive for the killings wasn't yet known. He said the suspect lived in a mobile home park managed by the business, RJR Maintenance and Management, "but we don't know the connection" with the suspect. He was arrested without incident Monday during a traffic stop.

"Evidence discovered on (the suspect) and in the vehicle provided probable cause to place (him) under arrest for the murders," Ziegler said. He did not elaborate on the evidence.

The man was being held on four counts of felony murder, Ziegler said, with a court appearance likely Friday. The charge carries a maximum punishment of life in prison without parole. North Dakota does not have the death penalty.

The man had no criminal history immediately evident in state or federal court in North Dakota.

Ziegler said police are not looking for any other suspects and were focusing on "putting everything together so we can get prosecution on this and bring (the suspect) to justice."

"Just because we've got him ... this is far from over. Now comes the long process of prosecution," the chief said.

It wasn't immediately clear if the man had an attorney representing him.

The bodies of an owner and three employees were found early Monday at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a city of 22,000 people just across the Missouri River from the state capital of Bismarck. Police have said the attack "was specific to the victims," and they didn't feel the public was in danger.

Ziegler declined to say whether all four of the victims were targeted. He said they suffered "stab wounds and/or gunshot wounds."

Earlier Thursday, police declined to release details of a 911 call that alerted authorities to the slayings. The Associated Press and other media outlets asked for audio and a transcript of the 911 call, but police denied the requests, citing a provision of the state's open records law that allows authorities to withhold such information during an active investigation.

Police have identified the dead as Robert Fakler, 52, co-owner of the property management business; employee Adam Fuehrer, 42; and married workers Lois Cobb, 45, and William Cobb, 50. A combined memorial service will be held Tuesday at Bismarck Community Church, according to Eastgate Funeral and Cremation Service.

The company's website says it has handled commercial and residential properties in the area for more than 20 years. Its services include collecting rent for landlords, paying mortgages, re-renting apartments, building and grounds maintenance, lawn care and snow removal. It also rents out storage units.

The RJR building is somewhat isolated despite its location in a business district near a busy main road known as The Strip. A large empty lot sits in the front, a golf course in back and a soccer complex to one side.

Mandan had not had a homicide since November 2016, and had only three in the past six years. In that time period, neighboring Bismarck, which has about 73,000 residents, had seven homicides.

___

Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake

Source: Fox News National

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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)

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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)

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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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