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Fire, ice and puberty: how ‘Thrones’ characters have grown

Living in Westeros can really change a person. Those who survived the first seven seasons of "Game of Thrones" have seen their parents, children and even pets stabbed, disemboweled and beheaded. They've been burned and frozen. They've lost essential body parts. Some have been through death and back, others suffered the horrors of puberty. Occasionally, they've been allowed some triumph. Here's a look at the twisted journeys of some of the characters who've managed to make it from 2011's season one to Sunday's premiere of season eight of the HBO series.

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ARYA STARK

From little princess to ruthless assassin, few have had a more transforming trip through the seven seasons of "Game of Thrones" than Arya. Played by Maisie Williams, Arya was a girl of about 11 forced to do needlepoint and other acceptably girlish things while dreaming of swords, war and adventure. Be careful what you wish for in Westeros. She saw her father beheaded in season one, had her brother and mother slaughtered at the Red Wedding in season three and was kidnapped and led through endless, grueling wandering. All of it left her hardened and hungry for vengeance, with a kill list of names she recites like a prayer before bedtime. In season five she went through dignity-draining assassin training that required her to take beatings, go blind for months and beg in the streets for subsistence. Eventually, she began living her dream of offing her family's enemies — baking two of them in a pie — and is getting such a taste for blood that as season eight starts it's hard to know whether she'll ever stop.

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SANSA STARK

While Arya embraced death and struggle, her big sister Sansa — played by Sophie Turner, who has become a star in the "X-Men" film franchise — only wanted the life of tea and tiaras she had as a young teen when the show began. Her initial innocence and optimism and subsequent persistence through humiliations and violations have made her the show's great emotional survivor. She was delighted to be betrothed to the king's son Prince Joffrey in season one, only to learn he was a vile monster. Her beloved pet dire wolf Lady was executed. She was forced into marriages with Tyrion Lannister then Ramsay Bolton, the most sadistic soul on a show full of them. Ramsay raped her on her wedding night in a season five scene that was too much even for many devoted viewers. As season eight begins she's finally in a position of power, in charge of her reclaimed family home of Winterfell. She has matured darker but still with her moral sense intact, and unlike many of the show's characters, has actually gained wisdom through her struggle.

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JON SNOW

"You know nothing, Jon Snow," was a frequent refrain that became a social media meme early in the series. It's spoken by the Wildling woman Ygritte, who takes Jon's virginity and leaves him with some worldly wisdom. (Kit Harington, who plays Snow, and Rose Leslie, who plays Ygritte, later married in real life.) Jon Snow knows a lot more now, and is about to learn a world-shaking truth about his origins as season eight begins. A bastard brought into the noble northern Stark family and raised by a regal woman who refused to love him, he was sent to serve at the great wall that guards the north, along with delinquents and other throwaway children. He would quickly rise to become their commander, and reached out to rival clans to fight the plague of the White Walkers, a growing horde of icy undead. Killed in a mutiny at the end of season five, he was later brought back to life by a priestess. The lords of the region join to declare him the King in the North, but he leaves to seek allies in the growing White Walker war. He found such a partner, and lover, and more in Daenerys Targaryen, who brings her dragons and armies to the fight.

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DAENERYS TARGARYEN

Viewers can tell how far Daenerys has come by the sheer number of names and titles she's amassed: Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi, Mhysa, Mother of Dragons, The Unburnt, The Queen Across the Sea, The Princess That Was Promised, and just plain Dany to friends and fans. When the show began she was treated as a piece of currency, a princess-in-exile married off to a barbarian by her calculating brother. Now she is either worshipped, feared or revered by nearly every soul in her world. She brought dragons back from extinction, conquered kingdoms, freed thousands of slaves, and is on the verge of restoring her family's dynasty over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, but first must fight alongside Jon Snow, and explore their possibly shared destiny. Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys, has had some real-life baptisms-by-fire since the show began, suffering two aneurysms and undergoing two brain surgeries.

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BRAN STARK

Bran began the show as a boy barely big enough to use a bow and arrow and is now a seer known as the Three-eyed Crow, who contains the wisdom of millennia, and a secret about Jon Snow that will redefine his family and possibly all of Westeros. His appearance underwent a change nearly as dramatic. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright, now 19, was 11 when he shot the first season, and had a pubescent growth spurt that rendered him virtually unrecognizable within a few seasons.

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JAIME LANNISTER

Leave it to "Game of Thrones," to take an incestuous, amoral, love-to-loathe-him villain and try to make him genuinely sympathetic. He begins as a legendary fighter known as the "Kingslayer," royal guard of his twin sister Queen Cersei and the secret father of her three children. During a stint as a prisoner he has his right hand cut off, and becomes a warrior unable to use a sword. His humanity, and even hints of kindness, have slowly emerged in the years since, and as season eight begins he has defied his sister to join their enemy Jon Snow in the fight against the White Walkers.

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CERSEI LANNISTER

Cersei was queen when season one began, and is queen as season eight begins. She's barely left the castle in King's Landing during the show's run, but for a naked walk of shame through the streets that became one of the show's most memorable — and most memed — moments. Most of her trials have been internal. All three of her children have died. Her famous long-blond locks are now gone in favor of a cropped cut that evokes maturity. She has refused to change her view of the world however, staying steadfast in the ruthlessness that for most of the series has kept the throne in her control. As season eight starts she's refused to commit her troops to the fight in the north, hoping all her potential rivals will destroy themselves while she waits it out.

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TYRION LANNISTER

Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage, has in many ways been the face of the show since Sean Bean's Ned Stark lost his face — along with the rest of head, in season one. At first he was a wisecracking alcoholic who spent most of his time in brothels. Now, he's a wisecracking alcoholic who advises Daenerys Targaryen, would-be queen of the realm. Through constant humiliations and rejections, Tyrion remained loyal to a family that despised him until he couldn't bear it anymore, killing his father, fleeing into exile and finding new life with Daenerys, the biggest threat to the clan he's renounced.

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THEON GREYJOY

The show's other wisecracking prostitute-frequenting rogue when the show began, he has been brutally humiliated and humbled since. After a murderous failed attempt to conquer Winterfell, where he was raised among the Starks, Theon is held prisoner by Ramsay Bolton, who cuts off his private parts, peels off his fingernails, knocks out his teeth and dubs him "Reek," turning him into a sad shadow of a human. He's slowly regained himself in recent seasons and is a survivor who has regained his will to fight.

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SAMWELL TARLY

Sam was a soft, sad, overweight reject from a family of warriors in season one, and he remains all of those things as season eight begins. Sent to the wall to be forged into a real medieval man, he instead finds his calling through his pure heart and studious mind, becoming an essential adviser who helped Jon Snow's rise and has found ancient knowledge to fend off the White Walkers.

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton .

Source: Fox News National

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China says 13,000 ‘terrorists’ arrested in Xinjiang since 2014

FILE PHOTO: Weapons the government says were seized from militants in Xinjiang are on display at an exhibition titled
FILE PHOTO: Weapons the government says were seized from militants in Xinjiang are on display at an exhibition titled "Major Violent Terrorist Attack Cases in Xinjiang”, during a government organised trip in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Blanchard/File Photo

March 18, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Authorities in China have arrested almost 13,000 “terrorists” in the restive far western region of Xinjiang since 2014, the government said on Monday, in a lengthy policy paper again defending its controversial Islamic de-radicalisation measures.

China has faced growing international opprobrium for setting up facilities that United Nations experts describe as detention centers holding more than one million Uighurs and other Muslims. Beijing says it needs the measures to stem the threat of Islamist militancy, and calls them vocational training centers.

Legal authorities have adopted a policy that “strikes the right balance between compassion and severity”, the government said in its white paper.

Since 2014, Xinjiang has “destroyed 1,588 violent and terrorist gangs, arrested 12,995 terrorists, seized 2,052 explosive devices, punished 30,645 people for 4,858 illegal religious activities, and confiscated 345,229 copies of illegal religious materials”, it added.

Only a small minority of people face strict punishment, such as ringleaders of terror groups, while those influenced by extremist thinking receive education and training to teach them the error of their ways, the paper said.

The main exiled group, the World Uyghur Congress, swiftly denounced the white paper.

“China is deliberately distorting the truth,” spokesman Dilxat Raxit said in an emailed statement.

“Counter-terrorism is a political excuse to suppress the Uighurs. The real aim of the so-called de-radicalisation is to eliminate faith and thoroughly carry out Sinification.”

The white paper said Xinjiang has faced a particular challenge since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, as East Turkestan extremists ramped up activities in China, referring to China’s term for extremists and separatists it says operates in Xinjiang.

“They screamed the evil words of ‘getting into heaven by martyrdom with jihad’, turning some people into extremists and terrorists who have been completely mind-controlled, and even turned into murderous devils.”

Religious extremism under the banner of Islam runs counter to Islamic doctrines, and is not Islam, it added.

Xinjiang has long been an inseparable part of Chinese territory, and the Uighur ethnic group evolved from a long process of migration and ethnic integration, the paper said.

“They are not descendants of the Turks.”

Turkey is the only Islamic country that has regularly expressed concern about the situation in Xinjiang, due to close cultural links with the Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language.

China has denounced Turkish concern as unwarranted and interference in its internal affairs.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Cardinals sign veteran CB Brock

FILE PHOTO: NFL: Cleveland Browns at Denver Broncos
FILE PHOTO: Dec 15, 2018; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos cornerback Tramaine Brock (22) catches the ball on a punt return in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Broncos Stadium at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

April 2, 2019

Veteran cornerback Tramaine Brock has signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals, the team announced Tuesday.

Brock, 30, is entering his 10th season and adds depth and experience to the secondary behind starting corners Patrick Peterson and Robert Alford.

Brock played 12 games with the Denver Broncos in 2018 and 11 games with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017 after spending his first seven seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.

He has appeared in 103 games (45 starts) and has registered 11 interceptions and 209 tackles.

Brock will be reunited with Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who was his head coach last year in Denver. Joseph also coached the defensive backs for San Francisco when Brock was a rookie in 2010.

–Field Level Media

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Olympics: Karate associations vent anger after Paris 2024 exclusion

FILE PHOTO: Karate bout between Bakhriniso Babaeva of Uzbekistan and Gu Shiaushaung of Taiwan at JCC Plenary Hall, Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug 28, 2018
FILE PHOTO: Karate bout between Bakhriniso Babaeva of Uzbekistan and Gu Shiaushaung of Taiwan at JCC Plenary Hall, Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug 28, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

February 22, 2019

(Reuters) – Karate’s exclusion from the Paris 2024 Olympic program has been heavily criticized by the sport’s governing body and various national associations after being left out of the list of four additional sports for the Games.

The world karate association said in a statement on Friday it was “deeply saddened” by the omission, revealed this week.

“We believed that we had met all the requirements and that we had the perfect conditions to be added to the sports program; however, we have learned today that our dream will not be coming true,” president Antonio Espinos said in a statement on the organization’s official website.

“France is one of the strongest countries in Karate. We had founded hopes to be in Paris 2024 due to the strength and popularity of our sport in France.”

Karate, which is to make its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, was absent from the list of four sports organizers recommended for the 2024 Summer Games, which included surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and breakdancing.

The association of Japan, which has won the most medals in the world karate championships, also condemned the move.

“This (announcement) came even before people were able to see karate at the Tokyo Olympics. This will bring the mood down ahead of Tokyo,” said general secretary Shuji Kusaka.

The karate association of Spain, the fourth best performing nation of all time at the world championships, behind Japan, France and Great Britain, was also critical of the exclusion.

“Yesterday (Thursday) karate suffered a massive setback. The karate community feels sadness, frustration and above all impotence right now,” said its statement.

“We will be at Tokyo 2020 at the highest level and we’ll show the world that our sport is as worthy as others and we will show the Paris 2024 organizing committee how wrong they are.”

(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Chrsitian Radnedge)

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The Latest: Christians hope pope’s Morocco visit a good sign

The Latest on Pope Francis' trip to Morocco: (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

Moroccans who converted to Christianity are hoping Pope Francis' visit will compel Moroccan authorities to become more tolerant of respecting religious freedom.

The number of Moroccan converts from Islam is estimated to between 2,000 and 6,000. They must practice Christianity privately, often holding house Masses and having to hide their religious affiliations for fear of prosecutions and arrests.

Many came to the kingdom's capital, Rabat, to attend Francis' Mass on Sunday.

Adam Rbati, a Moroccan Christian, told The Associated Press that he was pleased the pope made the visit and hoped it would lead to positive change.

Rbati said: "We are really happy. With this visit, we want to tell the pope and the Moroccan society that we are proud to be Christians. It might not change much, but it will certainly create the space for future positive change."

He is attending the Mass with his wife, also a Moroccan Christian, and their newborn son.

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9:55 a.m.

Pope Francis is turning his attention to Morocco's small Christian community during a two-day visit after already reaching out to the kingdom's Muslim majority and calling for a greater welcome for its growing number of migrants.

On his second and final day in Morocco, Francis is visiting a church-run social services center, meeting with Catholic priests and other Christian representatives, and celebrating a Mass on Sunday.

Morocco has become the main departure point in Africa for migrants attempting to reach Europe after Italy essentially closed its borders to asylum-seekers leaving from Libya.

Francis thanked Morocco on Saturday for protecting migrants and warned that walls won't stop people from trying to escape terrible conditions in their home countries.

He addressed migrants directly: "You are not the marginalized. You are at the center of the church's heart."

Source: Fox News World

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Art frenzy takes over Havana as biennial kicks off

A giant photograph of a boy by French photographer and artist JR is seen on a wall, during the 13th Havana Biennial, in Havana
A giant photograph of a boy by French photographer and artist JR is seen on a wall, during the 13th Havana Biennial, in Havana, Cuba April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Fernando Medina

April 15, 2019

By Sarah Marsh

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cones of white paper sprout from the seasalt-eroded pillars of one colonial building along Havana’s seafront, elaborately painted curtains cascade from another while out front children play with an installation of multicolored hoses.

Havana’s 13th Biennial kicked off this weekend with works by more than 300 contemporary artists from 52 countries taking over the city’s museums, galleries and open-air spaces, and many more collateral exhibits.

“They turned my home into an artwork,” said Silvia Perez, smiling at the paper sprouting from the colonnade of her home, a piece by Cuban artist Elio Jesús Fonseca. “The artist said it meant peace.”

The transformation of the Malecon seafront boulevard into an open-air, interactive gallery, has become one of the most popular venues of Cuba’s most important arts event.

Along the sidewalk this year are smooth boulders encased in volcanic slabs by Mexican artist Jose Davila, while a swirling light installation by Peruvian artist Grimanesa Amoros protudes from a building.

Cuba’s Communist government, which has heavily promoted the arts since the country’s 1959 leftist revolution, created the Havana Biennial in 1984 to promote artists from the developing world, especially Cuban ones.

This year, 80 Cubans will exhibit their work, including a performance on Monday by Manuel Mendive, considered the Caribbean island’s top living artist.

Still, it also includes a large contingent of European and U.S. artists including Cuban-Americans like Enrique Martínez Celaya and Emilio Perez.

Biennial Director Jorge Alfonso said it had been a challenge to stage the biennial given Cuba’s difficult economic situation – authorities postponed it half a year – but that it had succeeded underscored the importance Cuba placed on culture.

“Not even in the most difficult moments have we ever given up on staging one of these kind of events,” he told Reuters.

“The slogan of this year’s edition, ‘the construction of the possible’, is related to our ideal that a better world is possible.”

Some artists who are critical of the government however have subverted that slogan.

In one piece on the Malecon called “Potemkin Village”, Cuban-born artist Juan Andres Milanes Benito who lives in Norway has propped what appears to be the perfect facade of a building on another that is falling into disrepair.

“It fits a lot with the Cuban government these days and how the system is working – there is a lot of facade,” he said. “Inside it is not so perfect.”

Originally he had wanted to replicate the facade of a renovated government building but authorities would not allow him, he said.

Some Cuban artists feel the Havana Biennial itself is a facade papering over simmering tensions between them and authorities.

Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, who led a campaign against a controversial new decree on the cultural sector last year, was arrested last Friday after staging a small yet politically charged performance in his neighborhood.

His whereabouts remain unknown, his friends say. Asked by Reuters about the arrest in a news conference, the head of Cuba’s National Council of Visual Arts, Norma Rodriguez, said “as far as I know he is an activist not an artist”.

Cuba considers dissidents to be mercenaries in the pay of the United States trying to subvert the government.

The Havana Biennial runs until May 12.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Police: Good Samaritans thwart kidnaping in San Francisco

Good Samaritans stopped the attempted kidnapping of a 2-year-old boy by an Australian disc jockey from a busy San Francisco street, police said Tuesday.

Police arrested Roscoe Bradley Holyoake, 34, of Perth, Australia, on Friday.

Australia media reports Holyoake is a popular disc jockey.

The toddler was holding his mother's hand while they walked in the Castro neighborhood when Holyoake snatched the boy, San Francisco police say.

Holyoake ran for about half a block with the mother and several bystanders in pursuit before the bystanders grabbed and held him until police arrived.

Holyoake appeared briefly in court Tuesday and was ordered to return Thursday to enter a plea.

His attorney Steve Olmo told media outside court that Holyoake doesn't have a criminal record and was in San Francisco on business.

Holyoake remained in San Francisco County Jail on $500,000 bail.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com

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)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A government spokesman declined to comment.

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

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

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

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

Only for them to surge after the vote.

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

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

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

Source: OANN

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