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Asian shares steady after Easter weekend; oil hits 2019 highs

Visitors are seen as market prices are reflected in a glass window at the TSE in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: Visitors are seen as market prices are reflected in a glass window at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Tokyo, Japan, October 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

April 23, 2019

By Tomo Uetake

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares were little changed on Tuesday, hovering not far from nine-month peaks hit last week, with concerns China may slow the pace of policy easing curbing the market’s enthusiasm.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat, while Japan’s Nikkei average eased 0.2 percent. Many markets around the world remained shut on Monday after the long Easter weekend.

China stocks fell from a 13-month high on Monday, posting their worst session in nearly four weeks, as comments from top policymaking bodies raised investor fears that Beijing will ease up on stimulative policies after some signs of stabilization in the world’s second-largest economy.

Stocks on Wall Street hovered near break-even on Monday as the benchmark S&P 500 index was about 1 percent away from its record high hit in September, while the S&P energy index led gains on higher oil prices.

Oil prices jumped more than 2 percent the previous day to a near six-month high, on growing concern about tight global supplies after the United States announced a further clampdown on Iranian oil exports.

Washington said it would eliminate in May all waivers allowing eight economies to buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions.

International benchmark Brent crude soared 2.9 percent to settle at $74.04 a barrel on Monday and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2.7 percent to settle at $65.70. Both indexes climbed to nearly six-month highs during the session.

U.S. crude futures last traded at $65.78 per barrel, up 0.4 percent on the day.

But sharp gains in oil prices have so far had a limited impact on the broader financial markets.

“Unless the WTI rises well above $70-75 per barrel, there will be limited impact on U.S. Treasuries and the dollar/yen,” said Makoto Noji, chief currency and foreign bond strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

In the currency market, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, eased 0.2 percent overnight and last traded steady at 97.328. The index hit a two-week high of 97.485 on Thursday, before the start of Good Friday and the Easter weekend.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was largely flat at 111.96 yen, while the euro was steady to the greenback at 1.2530.

With the jump in the price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, the Canadian dollar rose 0.4 percent against its U.S. counterpart overnight and last traded at C$1.3352.

On Monday, the Russian ruble hit its highest level against the euro in more than a year, and a one month-peak versus the dollar, also driven by the jump in oil.

(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Source: OANN

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Twitter Bans User For Laughing At Rachel Maddow’s Tears Of Despair Over Mueller Report

As left-wing news outlets were forced to cover the completion of the Mueller report sans high-level indictments (Trump Jr., for example), Rachel Maddow had a grand-mal meltdown after having been forced by MSNBC to cancel a fishing trip and drive in to work on a Friday night. 

Maddow fought back tears as she reported on her own collapsing narrative, to which Twitter user ‘Karli Bonne’ (@kbq2251) posted a video of herself laughing at Maddow’s despair.

As the video began to go viral, Twitter suspended her account.

Bonne then tweeted the video from another account (@kbq225) which was quickly amplified by several people, including actor James Woods, who truly gives zero f*cks now that Hollywood has blacklisted him for being openly conservative.


The current internet monopoly system setup by Big Tech amounts to fascism. Gerald Celente joins Alex via Skype to explain that although the internet was designed to be free it no longer resembles it’s original state.

While Twitter’s ban of Karli may have backfired due to the Streisand effect (not the Streisand defect), reactions to Maddow’s meltdown have been hilarious.

Source: InfoWars

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Finnish nationalists rise to third place in poll ahead of elections

Finns Party leader Jussi Halla-aho is pictured in Helsinki
Finns Party leader Jussi Halla-aho is pictured in Helsinki, Finland February 27, 2019. February 27, 2019. Lehtikuva/Antti Aimo-Koivisto via REUTERS

March 29, 2019

HELSINKI (Reuters) – The nationalist Finns Party has overtaken Prime Minister Juha Sipila’s Centre Party to become Finland’s third-most popular party before an April 14 election, according to a poll published by public broadcaster Yle on Friday.

Support for the eurosceptic Finns Party rose to 15.1 percent in March from 13.3 in February. The party has made rapid gains in recent months, thanks in part to rising anti-immigration sentiment following a number of cases of sexual abuse of minors by foreign men.

Leftist Social Democrats are still in the lead at 20.1 percent, according to the Yle poll.

Finland’s governing coalition, led by Sipila’s Centre Party and the centre-right National Coalition, resigned on March 8 due to its failure to push through a healthcare reform considered crucial to public finances.

But the runner up position looks uncertain as the National Coalition in third place at 14.4 percent and Centre Party at 14.4 percent all fell within the polls’ margin of error of +/- 2.3 percent.

At the last election in 2015, the Finns Party won 17.7 percent of the vote. It subsequently split in two in 2017 when hardliner Halla-aho took the party’s reigns.

Sipila, who continues in the job as a caretaker until the elections, foresaw difficulties in forming the new government.

“The upcoming negotiations to form a government certainly won’t be easy,” he said about the latest poll results on Finnish TV channel MTV’s morning show on Friday.

“I refer to Sweden, for instance. If the election result is not very clear, it may take a lot of time to find grounds for a government coalition,” he said.

A political deadlock in neighboring Sweden lasted four months after no clear winning block emerged from parliamentary elections in September.

Leaders of the largest Finnish parties have ruled out working with the Finns Party in a coalition after the upcoming elections.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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Ten Arrested in Islamist Plot to “Kill as Many Non-Believers as Possible” – German Police

Ten men were arrested in Western Germany on the suspicion of planning an Islamic attack with the goal of killing “as many non-believers as possible.”  

Police raids involving 200 officers detained the suspects who intended to carry out their attack using a car and guns, Frankfurt authorities report.

"They are believed to have agreed to carry out an Islamist, terrorist attack using a vehicle and guns that would kill as many 'non-believers' as possible," read the prosecutors’ statement. “To prepare the attack, they had already made contact with different arms dealers, rented a large vehicle and collected financial assets to use for the purchase of guns and the execution of the planned murders.”

The suspects’ nationalities have not been released, but an official statement says several of them are German citizens aged 20 to 42.

Three of the suspects, a 21-year-old and two 32-year old brothers, are associated with the local Islamist-Salafist community.

Additionally, items seized from the raid include 20,000 euros in cash, knives, small amounts of drugs, documents, and electronic devices.

It's not immediately clear how concrete the plot actually was, but Interior Minister Peter Beuth praised authorities' timing of the arrests.

“Police intervened in a timely manner to prevent possible attack plans at an early stage.”

With the possibility of bad actors arranging the New Zealand shooting, many people are wondering why the elite would choose New Zealand to be the location of a “false flag.” Vox Day joins Alex to explore all the facts thus far.

(PHOTO: picture alliance / Contributor / Getty)

Source: InfoWars

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Japan March factory output falls at fastest rate in nearly three years: PMI

FILE PHOTO: A man cycles past chimneys of facotries at the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki
FILE PHOTO: A man cycles past chimneys of facotries at the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki, Japan September 12, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

April 1, 2019

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese manufacturing activity contracted at a slower pace in March than the previous month, but output fell at the sharpest rate in nearly three years, a private business survey showed on Monday, reflecting weak demand at home and abroad.

The latest survey bolstered the view the Japanese economy, the world’s third largest, is hitting a soft patch as the Sino-U.S. trade war dents global demand, dealing a blow to export-reliant Japan and its business and consumer confidence.

The final Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was a seasonally adjusted 49.2, up a tad from February’s final 48.9, which was also the flash reading for March.

The index was below the 50 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for the second consecutive month.

The survey suggests the worst quarterly performance in the manufacturing sector in January-March since the second quarter in 2016, as Japanese manufacturers face a “fiercely challenging” situation, said Joe Hayes, economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey.

“The likelihood of the negative trend in output being stymied any time soon appears slim, with demand for goods from both domestic and international sources waning further,” he said.

“Asian goods producers face headwinds from slowing growth in Europe and China, while global trade risks are yet to be mitigated by a breakthrough in US-Sino relations.”

The output component of the final PMI index stood at 47.0, just above a preliminary 46.9 but still down from a final 47.4 in February to show the fastest contraction since May 2016.

New orders from both domestic and international clients fell at the fastest pace since June 2016, the final survey showed.

New export orders fell for a fourth straight month in March, though at a slower pace. The decline contributed to pushing the rate of job creation to the weakest since late 2016, it also showed.

The trade war between the world’s two largest economies has also had a negative effect on Japan’s domestic growth, as a slowing Chinese economy curbed demand for mobile phone parts and chip-making equipment from Japan.

Growing uncertainty over the economic outlook leaves room for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to put off a national sales tax hike – to 10 percent from 8 percent – planned for October. But that would put much-needed fiscal reform on the backburner.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Richard Borsuk; Contact info: tetsushi.kajimoto@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1829; Reuters Messaging: tetsushi.kajimoto.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

Source: OANN

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Pinterest prices IPO at $19, above target range

FILE PHOTO: A Pinterest banner hangs on the facade of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: A Pinterest banner hangs on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 18, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pinterest Inc, the online scrapbook where users save ideas for clothes, décor and recipes, said on Wednesday it priced its initial public offering at $19 per share, above its $15-$17 target range.

At this price, Pinterest raised around $1.4 billion at a roughly $12.6 billion valuation, taking into account restricted stock units and options.

The company is due to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the symbol “PINS”.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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Mueller made 14 criminal referrals, including Michael Cohen and Greg Craig

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office made 14 referrals for investigation of "potential criminal activity" that fell outside the scope of its investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, as well as potential obstruction of justice by the Trump administration.

Among those referred for criminal investigation were Michael Cohen, Trump's onetime personal attorney, and Gregory Craig, a former White House counsel under President Barack Obama. The other 12 referrals were redacted, citing "Harm to Ongoing Matter."

Cohen was sentenced in December 2018 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress about Trump’s past business dealings in Russia. In his plea, Cohen said he arranged "hush money" payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign "at the direction" of then-candidate Trump.

Mueller's report noted that Trump's conduct toward Cohen changed from praise to castigation after Cohen began cooperating with prosecutors following an FBI raid on his home, office and hotel room in April 2018. The report said the evidence could "support an inference that the president used inducements in the form of positive messages in an effort to get Cohen not to cooperate, and then turned to attacks and intimidation to deter the provision of information or undermine Cohen's credibility once Cohen began cooperating."

Cohen is scheduled to report to prison next month, though his legal team has claimed he is still sorting through documents that might be of interest to Democratic lawmakers investigating the president. Cohen's attorneys have also said that they are holding out hope that federal prosecutors in New York will not only back another delay in the start of his prison term, but also would agree to reopen his case and advocate for a lighter sentence.

On Thursday, Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, tweeted that Cohen "knows and can fill in the bulk of the redactions" in the Mueller report. Cohen concurred, tweeting: "Soon I will be ready to address the American people again...tell it all...and tell it myself!"

Craig was indicted last week on two counts of making false statements and concealing information from investigators regarding his work for former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych. Craig, 74, has pleaded not guilty and called the prosecution "unprecedented and unjustified."

The case against Craig intersected with the Mueller probe because former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was involved in the financing of a report Craig authored in 2012 for the Yanukovych government that sought to legitimize its prosecution of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

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Manafort was convicted last year by a federal jury in Virginia on eight counts of bank and tax fraud and was sentenced to 47 months in prison. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two felony conspiracy charges related to his overseas lobbying work with Ukraine and was sentenced to 73 months in prison by a D.C. federal judge. Manafort's former deputy Rick Gates pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of making false statements to FBI agents and cooperated with prosecutors against Manafort.

All told, Mueller charged 34 people, including Manafort and Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and three Russian companies. Twenty-five Russians were indicted on charges related to election interference, accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts during the campaign or of orchestrating a social media campaign that spread disinformation on the internet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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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)

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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