OPEC, Russia meet again to approve biggest ever oil cut

BAKU/DUBAI/LONDON - OPEC, Russia and other oil producing nations were meeting on Sunday in a bid to clinch a deal on the biggest oil cut ever, amounting to 10 percent of global supply, after their initial efforts to support oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic were blocked by Mexico.

The group, known as OPEC+, was expected to start a video conference at 1600 GMT.

On Thursday, OPEC+ outlined plans to cut output by more than a fifth, or by 10 million barrels per day (bpd), but Mexico balked at the production cuts it was asked to make, delaying the signing of a final deal.

"The ministerial meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC members is a follow-up after the April 9 meeting," the energy ministry of OPEC+ member Azerbaijan said on Sunday.

Measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus have destroyed demand for fuel and driven down oil prices, straining budgets of oil producers and hammering the U.S. shale industry, which is more vulnerable to low prices due to its higher costs.

OPEC+ also said it wanted producers outside the group, such as the United States, Canada, Brazil and Norway, to cut a further 5% or 5 million bpd.

Canada and Norway signalled willingness to cut and the United States, where legislation makes it hard to act in tandem with cartels such as OPEC, has said its output would fall steeply by itself this year due to low prices.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered to make extra U.S. cuts on his behalf, an unusual offer by a Trump who has long railed against OPEC.

Trump, who had threatened Saudi Arabia with oil tariffs if it did not fix the market's oversupply problem, said Washington would help Mexico by picking up "some of the slack" and being reimbursed later.

He did not say how this would work and OPEC leader Saudi Arabia has so far refused to accept the fix, according to OPEC sources.

Global oil demand is estimated to have fallen by a third as more than 3 billion people are locked down in their homes due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A 15 percent cut in supply might not be enough to arrest the price decline, banks Goldman Sachs and UBS predicted last week, saying Brent prices would fall back to $20 per barrel from $32 at the moment and $70 at the start of the year.

(Reporting by Reuters OPEC Team, Nailia Bagirova in BAKU, Katya Golubkova in MOSCOW and Tamara Vaal in NUR-SULTAN; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Jason Neely, Alsion Williams and Alex Richardson)

-reuters-

Four wounded in attack on Iraqi military base that houses US forces

TIKRIT, Iraq - Four people were wounded on Sunday in an attack on Balad air base in northern Iraq which houses US personnel.

The Iraqi military said in a statement that eight Katyusha rockets had been fired at the base, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, and that the four wounded included two officers.

Military sources identified the wounded as Iraqi soldiers. They said seven mortar bombs had hit the base's runway.

There was no word of any US casualties among the U.S. forces at the base.

The Iraqi military statement did not say who was behind the attack and made no mention of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, which last Wednesday fired missiles at two military bases in Iraq which house US forces. 

(Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan writing by Hesham Abdul Khalek; Editing by Susan Fenton and Timothy Heritage)

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China smartphone maker Vivo scraps ties with NBA

BEIJING - Chinese smartphone maker Vivo said on Tuesday it will suspend all cooperation with the National Basketball Association (NBA), joining a series of Chinese firms cutting ties with the league following a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive supporting Hong Kong's protesters.

Vivo, in a statement published on social media platform Weibo, said it is strongly dissatisfied with Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey's comments on Hong Kong and the NBA's stance on the matter.

Vivo was a key sponsor for the upcoming exhibition games to be played in Shanghai and Shenzhen later this week by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee and Roxanne Liu)

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Death toll in Nepal floods rises to 55, thousands displaced

KATHMANDU - The death toll in Nepal from flash floods and landslides in the past three days rose to 55 on Sunday, with dozens missing and injured, the government said.

Ten thousand people have been displaced from their homes as incessant monsoon rains pounded many areas in mostly mountainous Nepal since Thursday, submerging large swathes of land, inundating homes, and destroying bridges and roads across the country.

A Home Ministry statement said 55 people had been confirmed dead and 33 injured. There are 30 missing.

India's northeastern state of Assam has also been hard hit by the floods brought by the monsoon, with at least 1.5 million people displaced and 10 dead. And in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh there have been 10 deaths and about 500,000 displaced as 200 villages have been flooded.

In Nepal, cabinet spokesman Gokul Banskota told reporters that "the disaster has caused a big loss to the economy". The government will make an assessment soon, he added.

Nepal Red Cross spokesman Dibya Raj Poudel said the displaced had been sheltered in schools and other public buildings.

Television channels showed roofs of houses submerged in flood waters in the southern plains and people wading through chest-deep water with their belongings on their heads.

Officials said in some areas rains had eased but some rivers in the eastern part of the country were still above flood level. Authorities asked residents to remain alert.

The Kosi River, which flows into the eastern Indian state of Bihar, was among those that had risen above the flood level.

Nepal police official Ishwari Dahal said all 56 sluice gates of the Kosi barrage on the Nepal-India border had been opened last night for six hours to drain out 371,000 cusecs of water, the highest accumulation in 15 years. A cusec is a measurement of flow, equivalent to one cubic foot per second.

"Its water level has gone down now," Dahal told Reuters from the barrage site in southeast Nepal.

The Kosi has been a serious concern for both India and Nepal since it broke its banks in 2008 and changed course, submerging swathes of land and affecting more than 2 million people in India's Bihar state. About 500 people died in that disaster. 

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; edited by Christian Schmollinger and Louise Heavens)

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Lady Gaga takes on 'Camp' at Met Gala in gowns, underwear

NEW YORK -- Pop superstar Lady Gaga made a grand entrance at New York's annual Met Gala on Monday (US time), wearing a voluminous bright pink dress that she shed on the red carpet to reveal three other outfits layered underneath, including a bra and underwear, her interpretation of the evening's theme, "Camp: Notes on Fashion."

The invitation-only event, famed for its A-list celebrities and haute couture gowns, is a benefit for New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and also marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit.

Gaga shed her blazing pink Brandon Maxwell gown on the red carpet to reveal a strapless black gown by the designer. Next came a figure-hugging hot pink gown. Her final reveal before a makeup touch-up on the carpet was a black bra, panties and sky-high platform boots.

"Roar" singer Katy Perry came dressed as a chandelier, even wearing one on her head. "I like to be of the light and obviously be the light, she said about her 40-pound costume by Moschino.

Anna Wintour, the American Vogue editor-in-chief who hosts fashion's biggest night each year, was one of the first up the red-carpet-turned-pink for the evening wearing a shimmering Chanel gown topped by a cape of pink feathers that was tipped in black, a nod to the night's mascot, a flamingo.

Camp, a theme that embraces humor, exaggeration and liberal interpretation, was inspired by writer Susan Sontag's 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp.'" Trends on the pink carpet included gold lame and sequins, feathers, neon, and oversized sleeves, skirts and trains.

Performer Billy Porter, dressed in head-to-toe gold, summoned ancient Egypt when he was carried into the gala on a litter by six shirtless men.

The night's fashion also referenced camp icons including a glittery high-collared cape by designer Christian Siriano intended to pay tribute to the late Vegas showman Liberace. Singer Celine Dion wore a feathered headpiece and full-length fringe by Oscar de la Renta that was reminiscent of a Cher costume.

Kris Jenner, mother and manager of reality stars Kim and Khloe Kardashian, told reporters on the red carpet she was channeling singer David Bowie in a coat with wings made of tulle over a blue Tommy Hilfiger jumpsuit. 

The frontman of British brand One Direction and gala co-host Harry Styles arrived wearing a black Gucci ensemble with mesh detail on the top and painted black fingernails.

Tennis star Serena Williams stayed true to her brand, pairing Nike sneakers with a custom neon yellow dress from Italian fashion house Versace.

Others with the sought-after invitation to dinner for 550 included NFL star quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez and comedian Chris Rock, and the billionaire CEO of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos. 

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Dutch police arrest Turkish man suspected of killing 3 in tram shooting

UTRECHT, Netherlands - Dutch police arrested a Turkish man suspected of shooting dead 3 people and wounding 5 on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday.

Police said the suspect, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis, had been taken into custody after an hours-long manhunt and had earlier run-ins with authorities in the Netherlands.

The city was put into lockdown after the shooting, shortly after the morning rush hour, which authorities initially said was an apparent terrorist attack. Police conducted raids in several locations after issuing an image of Tanis and warning the public not to approach him.

But hours after the shooting, the gunman's motive remained unclear. A prosecutor said it could be for "family reasons" and Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency, quoting relatives of the gunman, said he had fired at a relative on the tram and had then shot at others who tried to help her.

The Turkish intelligence agency said it is investigating whether the attack was personally motivated or an act of terrorism, President Tayyip Erdogan said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dutch authorities had raised the terrorism threat in Utrecht province to its highest level, schools were told to shut their doors and paramilitary police increased security at airports, other vital infrastructure and at mosques.

The threat level was reduced by one notch to where it had been after the suspect was arrested, the National Counter-Terrorism Agency said.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte convened crisis talks immediately after the incident, which came 3 days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at 2 mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

"Our country has today been shocked by an attack in Utrecht... A terrorist motive cannot be excluded," Rutte said. "The first reports have led to disbelief and disgust. Innocent people have been struck by violence."

The mayor of Utrecht, Jan van Zanen, said 3 people had been killed and 5 injured, 3 of them critically.

CRIMINAL RECORD

The suspect had previously been arrested, regional prosecutor Rutger Jeuken told reporters, without giving further details.

The shooting took place in Kanaleneiland, a quiet residential district on the outskirts of Utrecht with a large immigrant population.

"It's frightening that something like this can happen so close to home," said Omar Rahhou, who said his parents lived on a street cordoned off by police. "These things normally happen far away but this brings it very close, awful."

Witness Daan Molenaar, who said he had been sitting at the front of the tram when the shooting started, told national broadcaster NOS he did not believe it was a terrorist attack.

"The first thing I thought was, this is some kind of revenge or something, or somebody who's really mad and grabbed a pistol," he said.

Utrecht, the Netherlands' fourth largest city with a population of around 340,000, is known for its picturesque canals and large student population. Gun killings are rare in Utrecht, as elsewhere in the Netherlands.

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One feared dead in Dutch tram shooting in possible terrorist attack - authorities

UTRECHT, Netherlands -One person was feared dead while several suffered gunshot wounds on Monday in a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht and a hunt was underway for the gunman in an incident authorities said appeared to be a terrorist attack.

Dutch broadcaster NOS said police had surrounded a building where the suspected gunman was believed to be holed up. There was no immediate word on who the gunman was or on the precise number or identity of the victims.

Authorities raised the terrorism threat to its highest level in Utrecht province, schools were told to shut their doors and paramilitary police increased security at airports and other vital infrastructure. Security was also stepped up at mosques.

"Several shots were fired in a tram and several people were injured. Helicopters are at the scene and no arrests have been made," said police spokesman Joost Lanshage. He was not immediately able to provide further details.

Local broadcaster RTV Utrecht quoted a witness as saying he had seen a woman lying on the ground amid some kind of confrontation and several men ran away from the scene.

A reporter for NOS said a white sheet had been placed over a body near the tram where the shooting had taken place.

NOS quoted Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Netherlands' counter-terrorism agency, as saying the shooting "appears to be a terrorist attack", echoing an earlier comment by police.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte convened crisis talks, saying he was deeply concerned about the incident, which came three days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Utrecht, the Netherlands' fourth largest city, is known for its picturesque canals and large student population. Gun killings are rare in Utrecht, as elsewhere in the Netherlands.

Utrecht police said the tram station stop in a square outside the city center had been cordoned off. Emergency services were at the scene. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila extended its sympathy to the Netherlands.

"The Philippines is greatly saddened that such an incident has occurred in a peaceful country such as the Netherlands. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dutch people and government during this difficult time," the DFA said in a statement.

Philippine officials are also checking on the Filipino community in Utrecht to verify whether there were any Filipinos among those injured.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling and Anthony Deutsch; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Duque becomes Colombia's president, promising to unite divided nation

BOGOTA - Colombia's President-elect Ivan Duque was sworn in to office on Tuesday, pledging to unite a divided nation behind his plan to toughen a peace accord with Marxist rebels and rekindle economic growth.

Right-wing Duque, who replaces Nobel Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos, faces significant challenges.

The economy remains weak, a new wave of drug trafficking gangs have moved into areas once controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, and nearly a million Venezuelan migrants have crossed into Colombia looking for food and work.

The 42-year-old lawyer and former senator for the Democratic Center party won a decisive victory against a leftist opponent in June's election, promising to make adjustments to the domestically-controversial peace accord with the FARC, cut corporate taxes and redouble security efforts in certain areas.

"I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming left and right divisions," Duque said in an address before dignitaries, after receiving the presidential sash in Bogota's Plaza Bolivar.

"I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never of destroying."

Ongoing peace negotiations with National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, the country's last remaining insurgent group, will be evaluated over the next 30 days, Duque said, adding that any process must be "credible" and based on an end to guerrilla criminal activity over a specified timeframe.

He said he will also send an anti-corruption bill to Congress and launch measures to reactivate the sluggish economy.

Duque is a protege of hardline ex-President Alvaro Uribe, a harsh critic of the peace agreement, whose father was killed by rebels.

Uribe, facing allegations of witness tampering and bribery that he has denied, is seen by many as the power behind the relatively inexperienced Duque.

But Duque, a father of three who worked at the Inter-American Development Bank before Uribe asked him to take a Senate seat in 2014, has already shown independence in some cabinet picks and in a softening of his anti-accord rhetoric.

The 2016 peace deal brought an end to the FARC's part in more than five decades of war which killed some 260,000, and saw thousands of rebels demobilize in return for amnesty.

And though its leadership will be tried for war crimes, Duque is angry they will not serve jail time before taking up 10 guaranteed congressional seats.

Colombia's youngest president of the modern era has not specified the changes he would make to the agreement, but anything more than cosmetic will be tough to get through a Congress which has broadly backed the deal.

Even so, alterations may help satisfy some detractors in a nation polarized by the deal.

Duque can count on continued support from the United States, said Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in Bogota.

"He very much sees the fact that the peace process, while it happened and was historic, wasn't perfect and so now it needs to be tweaked a bit," she told journalists.

The prematurely gray-haired Duque has also said he plans to cut taxes and raise revenue from an evasion crackdown. He wants to relax the so-called fiscal rule, which obliges the government to reduce the budget deficit.

"In economic matters, mistakes have been made that we must never again repeat," said Duque. "A tax policy motivated by the expansion of spending has led us to having asphyxiating burdens that affect savings, investment, job formalization and productivity."

With Colombia's debt rated BBB- by S&P and BBB by Fitch, Duque will have a hard time satisfying credit rating agencies unless he is able to replace revenue lost from weaker international oil prices. 

(Reporting by Helen Murphy and Julia Symmes Cobb, Additional reporting by Nelson Bocanegra, Carlos Vargas and Luis Jaime Acosta, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

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Lip gloss boss: Kylie Jenner to be youngest self-made billionaire

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Reality TV star Kylie Jenner is on track to become the youngest self-made billionaire in the United States thanks to the booming cosmetics company she launched two years ago, Forbes magazine reported on Wednesday.

Jenner, 20, half-sister of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, debuted Kylie Cosmetics in 2016 with $29 lip kits containing matching lipstick and lip liner, and has since sold more than $630 million worth of makeup.

Forbes said it valued her company at nearly $800 million and that Jenner owns 100 percent of it.

Adding millions from TV programs, endorsements and after-tax dividends from her company, Forbes said Jenner was “conservatively” worth $900 million. Another year of growth would make her the youngest-self made billionaire ever, male or female, the magazine said.

Jenner first grabbed the spotlight as part of the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” reality TV show with her mother and siblings. Forbes estimated that Kim Kardashian, who has her own cosmetics, clothing and mobile games lines, is worth $350 million.

In an interview with Forbes, Jenner credited social media for helping drive her success.

“Social media is an amazing platform,” she said. “I have such easy access to my fans and my customers.”

Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Tom Brown

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Lava flow stalls, sparing Hawaii geothermal plant from more damage

HONOLULU - A lava flow from Hawaii's erupting Kilauea volcano that damaged a geothermal power station has stalled, as have lava fountains gushing 100 feet (30 meters) into the air, offering momentary relief to an area under siege for 25 days, officials said on Monday.

Even so, new blasts from the crater sent ash plumes billowing as high as 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) into the sky, and a new fissure was pumping out lava at a rate of three feet (1 meter) per second, geologists said.

The new fissure sent more lava into the to evacuated Leilani Estates district in the eastern corner of Hawaii's Big Island.

Because the lava was spread out over a wide area, the frontier of the flow was only moving at about three feet per second, Carolyn Parcheta, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a video message posted online.

Lava engulfed the heads of two wells that tap into steam and gas deep in the Earth's core at the 38-megawatt Puna Geothermal Venture on Saturday. Its operator, Israeli-controlled Ormat Technologies Inc, said it had not been able to assess the damage.

Residents fear the wells may be explosive. Officials have said the power plant is safe but lava has never engulfed a geothermal plant anywhere in the world, leaving a measure of uncertainty.

The lava flow at PGV stalled on Monday, Hawaii County spokeswoman Janet Snyder said.

Ormat said the plant represented about 4.5 percent of its total generating capacity and that major damage or a shutdown could have an "adverse impact" on the company's business.

Authorities have shut down the plant, removed 60,000 gallons (230,000 liters) of flammable liquid, and deactivated the wells.

At least 82 homes have been destroyed in the southeast corner of Big Island and about 2,000 people have been ordered evacuated since Kilauea began erupting on May 3.

About 2,200 acres (890 hectares) have been scorched and the eruptions are expected to cut tourism revenues.

The sole reported serious injury from the eruption so far came when a man was hit by flying lava.

An eruption from the summit's Halemaumau crater on Monday sent ash almost 15,000 feet (4,600 m) into the air, a National Weather Service meteorologist said. Hawaii County officials later cut the estimated height to 13,000 feet.

Magma has drained from Kilauea's summit lava lake and flowed around 25 miles (40 km) east underground, bursting out of about two dozen giant cracks or fissures. 

(Reporting by Joyln Rosa in Honolulu; Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Tom Brown)

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Porn star sues Trump's personal lawyer for defamation

WASHINGTON - Stormy Daniels sued Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen on Monday for defamation, according to court documents, escalating a legal battle between the American president and the porn star that the White House was struggling to contain.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, made the claim a day after her widely watched TV interview on "60 Minutes" on CBS. Daniels said she was threatened with violence to keep quiet about her alleged 2006 tryst with Trump.

At the White House, a spokesman in a briefing with reporters cast aspersions on her account. The White House has denied allegations that Trump had a sexual relationship with Daniels.

CBS Corp said the show drew its biggest audience in more than eight years, with 21.3 million Americans tuning in, more than double the previous week's edition of "60 Minutes."

Presidential spokesman Raj Shah told the briefing, "The president doesn't believe any of the claims Ms. Daniels made in the interview last night were accurate."

Asked if Trump believed Daniels was threatened, Shah said, "No, he does not. ... There's nothing to corroborate her claim."

Daniels' "60 Minutes" appearance also drew a denial from the president's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that he was involved in the alleged threat of violence against her.

Daniels originally sued Trump on March 6, saying he never signed an agreement for her to stay silent about what she called their "intimate" relationship. Monday's filing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles amended the original lawsuit to say Daniels was defamed.

Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Cohen "meant to convey that Ms. Clifford is a liar, someone who should not be trusted, and that her claims about her relationship with Mr. Trump" were not true.

Daniels' defamation allegation was based on a Feb. 13 statement by Cohen that she said hurt her reputation.

The latest filing also said $130,000 Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016 just before the presidential election to secure her silence amounted to an illegal campaign contribution, and that the agreement should be declared void.

Cohen has said he paid Daniels out of his own pocket, but has not explained why or if Trump was aware of the payment.

In filings with the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission, watchdog groups have said the $130,000 may have exceeded campaign contribution limits, violating U.S. law. Cohen has denied this.

California attorney Michael Overing, who specializes in defamation law, said it would be difficult for Daniels to prevail on her defamation claim because she is a public figure.

To prove libel, she would have to show that a false statement was made with either reckless or purposeful disregard for the truth, Overing said.

Trump attorney Cohen's denial of involvement in the alleged threat against Daniels came in a "cease-and-desist" letter sent to Avenatti shortly after "60 Minutes" aired that demanded a retraction and an apology. A copy of the letter was seen by Reuters on Monday.

The letter said, "Mr. Cohen had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any such person or incident, and does not even believe that any such person exists, or that such incident ever occurred."

Daniels said the threat of harm was made by a stranger in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011.

Avenatti said on NBC on Monday that the man who threatened her while she was with her infant daughter was not Cohen, but "had to be someone that is related to Mr. Trump or Mr. Cohen."

Last week CNN interviewed former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who described a 10-month affair with Trump starting in 2006.

Trump was married to his wife, Melania, during both alleged relationships. In addition to denying Trump had sex with Daniels, the White House has said he denies having an affair with McDougal. 

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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Kylie Jenner announces birth of baby girl

US reality TV star Kylie Jenner announced on Sunday the birth of her child with rapper Travis Scott, after months of rumors surrounding her pregnancy.

The 20-year-old Jenner said in a post on social media platform Instagram that her “beautiful, healthy baby girl” arrived on Feb. 1 and apologized to fans for keeping her pregnancy a secret.

“I‘m sorry for keeping you in the dark through all the assumptions,” Jenner wrote. “I understand you’re used to me bringing you along on all my journeys. My pregnancy was one I chose not to do in front of the world.”

Jenner’s half-sister Kim Kardashian, 37, and her rapper husband Kanye West announced the birth of their third child on Jan. 16, a girl born to a surrogate. Jenner’s other half-sister Khloe Kardashian, 33, announced in December that she is six months pregnant with her basketball player boyfriend Tristan Thomas.

Jenner, who has parlayed her family’s reality TV show and a 101 million Instagram following into a lucrative cosmetics line, posted a teaser on Instagram to a YouTube video entitled “To Our Daughter,” that shows her in the delivery room just after giving birth, holding her newborn baby.

The arrival of Jenner’s child quickly became the top trending topic on Twitter in the United States, surpassing #SuperBowlSunday just hours before the start of the big game.

Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

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Thousands of Harvey survivors rescued in Texas, 38 dead

PORT ARTHUR, Texas - Soldiers and police in helicopters and high-water trucks rescued thousands of Texans stranded by floodwater from Hurricane Harvey on Thursday, which has killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million others as it drenches the Gulf Coast.

Some 779,000 Texans have been ordered to evacuate their homes and another 980,000 fled voluntarily amid concerns that swollen reservoirs and rivers could bring new flooding, according to Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Elaine Duke.

Harvey roared ashore late Friday as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in a half-century. It has since been downgraded to a tropical depression as it heads inland, leaving devastation across the southeast corner of the state.

Jessica Richard, 24, said she waited out the storm in her home in Port Arthur, about 85 miles (137 km) east of Houston, until Thursday morning when water on her street rose to waist-depth. She was picked up by a passing truck.

"All my family is safe even though there were a few close calls," said Richard, adding that her nephew had been trapped overnight in a flooded apartment with several family members. "He said there were snakes in the water and spiders crawling up the walls. But they got out."

At least 38 people were dead or feared dead in six counties including and around Houston, according to local officials.

In the US energy hub of Houston, which was paralyzed by the storm earlier in the week, firefighters conducted a block-by-block search of homes to rescue stranded survivors and recover bodies.

ORANGE COUNTY EVACUATION

In Beaumont, Texas, about 80 miles (129 km) east of Houston, doctors and nurses evacuated some 190 people from a hospital that halted operations after the storm knocked out water service in the city of almost 120,000 people.

Orange County, which borders Beaumont, on Thursday ordered remaining residents to evacuate the area amid a forecast that the Neches River would crest on Friday, threatening homes.

Just east of Rose City, Texas, a line of cars and trucks were pushing through water flowing over the Interstate highway.

A convoy of civilian volunteers from the ad-hoc "Cajun Navy," who have been carrying out rescues all week, waited as their leader, Phil Drager, negotiated with police to stop traffic and launch an airboat for a scouting mission.

"Now I can add shutting a major Interstate highway to my resume," Drager said.

US Vice President Mike Pence visited Texas on Thursday, touring the coastal city of Rockport, where Harvey slammed ashore onto the mainland late Friday.

"The American people are with you. We are here today, we will be here tomorrow and we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before," Pence told a crowd outside a Rockport church damaged by the storm.

POWER STILL OUT

Gasoline futures soared more than 13 percent on Thursday, as almost a quarter of US refining capacity had been knocked offline by the storm, raising fears of fuel shortages.

About 189,000 homes and businesses remained without power.

Moody's Analytics estimated the economic cost from Harvey for southeastern Texas at $51 billion to $75 billion, ranking it among the costliest storms in American history.

The event has drawn comparisons to 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people in New Orleans. Then-President George W. Bush's administration was widely criticized for the haphazard initial response to that storm, and the Trump administration was taking care to be seen as responding quickly to the first major natural disaster it has faced.

President Donald Trump was to return to the region on Saturday.

Early Thursday, explosions could be heard at a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, owned by Arkema SA. Refrigeration systems failed in a truck storing volatile chemicals, which ignited as they warmed, sending smoke plumes 40-feet (12-meters) into the air, according to company and public safety officials.

After the blasts, local and federal public safety officials, and company representatives insisted there was no risk to the public outside the 1.5-mile (2.4-km) safety perimeter, even though they said eight more trucks storing the same chemicals would eventually catch fire.

HOUSTON SURVEYS DAMAGE

Some signs of normal life returned to Houston, the nation's fourth most populous city.

Residents began a massive cleanup, dragging water-logged furniture to the curb, hunting for supplies and repair estimates. The city began limited trash pickup and bus services. Hospitals that had struggled to stay open earlier in the week were phasing in clinical operations.

Most of Houston’s larger companies said they would remain closed through the Labor Day holiday on Monday, but employees of smaller businesses and offices were trekking back to work.

Both of the city’s major airports were operating on Thursday and traffic returned to its notoriously clogged highways. The start of public school was delayed until September 11.

Anita Williams, 52, was lined up at a shelter at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center to register for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Williams had returned home on Wednesday to survey the damage to her one-story house.

"It's not my house anymore," Williams said. "My deep freezer was in my living room."

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U.S. forces give technical assistance as PH takes losses in Marawi

MARAWI CITY, Philippines - U.S. special forces have joined the battle to crush Islamist militants holed up in Marawi City, officials said on Saturday, as government forces struggled to make headway and 13 marines were killed in intense urban fighting.

The Philippines military said the United States was providing technical assistance to end the siege of Marawi by fighters allied to Islamic State, which is now in its third week, but it had no boots on the ground.

"They are not fighting. They are just providing technical support," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera told a news conference in Marawi City.

The Pentagon, which has no permanent presence in the Philippines but for years has kept 50 to 100 special forces troops in the south of the country on rotational exercises, confirmed it was helping the Philippine military in Marawi.

It said in a statement it was providing Philippine forces with security assistance and training in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It said it had an additional 300 to 500 troops in the country to support regular training and activities, without giving further details.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a U.S. official said support included aerial surveillance and targeting, electronic eavesdropping, communications assistance and training. A U.S. P-3 Orion surveillance plane was seen flying over the town on Friday, according to media reports.


"There is no direct U.S. participation in combat, which is prohibited by Philippine law, although our forces involved in training the Philippine military are authorized to defend themselves," the U.S. official said.

The cooperation between the longtime allies is significant because Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who came to power a year ago, has taken a hostile stance towards Washington and has vowed to eject U.S. military trainers and advisers from his country.

The seizure of Marawi City on May 23 has alarmed Southeast Asian nations which fear that Islamic State - facing setbacks in Syria and Iraq - is establishing a stronghold on the Philippine island of Mindanao that could threaten the whole region.

About 40 foreigners have fought alongside the Philippine militants in Marawi City, most of them from Indonesia and Malaysia, though some came from the Middle East.

The Philippines military suffered its biggest one-day loss on Friday since 10 troops were killed in a friendly-fire incident on June 1. Herrera said 13 marines conducting clearing operations died after an "intense" house-to-house firefight during which they encountered improvised explosive devices and were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades.

The deaths took to 58 the number of security forces killed, with 20 civilians and more than a hundred rebel fighters also killed in the Marawi fighting.

REPORTS OF MAUTE BROTHERS KILLED

At least 200 militants are holed up in a corner of the town. An estimated 500 to 1,000 civilians are trapped there, some being held as human shields, while others are hiding in their homes with no access to running water, electricity or food.

The military said it was making headway in the town but was proceeding carefully so as not to destroy mosques where some of the militants had taken up positions.

"We give premium to the mosques, because this is very symbolic to our Muslim brothers," Herrera said.

The Philippines is majority Christian, but Mindanao has a significant population of Muslims and Marawi City is overwhelmingly Muslim.

One of the main Islamist factions dug in around the heart of the city is the Maute group, a relative newcomer amid the throng of insurgents, separatists and bandits on Mindanao.

Herrera said the military was "validating" reports that the two Maute brothers who founded the group had been killed.

"We are still awaiting confirmation," he said. "We are still validating those reports but there are strong indications."

Maute joined forces with Isnilon Hapilon, who was last year proclaimed by Islamic State as its Southeast Asia "emir." Military officials believe Hapilon is still in the town.

The military has said it is aiming to end the siege by Monday, the Philippines' independence day.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Clinton leads Trump by 5 points, swing states tighten: poll

NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by 5 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday, keeping her advantage in a national survey while races tighten in several swing states.

The Oct. 30-Nov. 3 opinion poll showed that 44 percent of likely voters in Tuesday's election support Clinton while 39 percent support Trump.

Clinton's lead has varied from 4 to 7 percentage points every day over the past week in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, while other opinion polls have shown the race becoming increasingly competitive. Real Clear Politics, which averages together most national polls, estimates that Clinton's lead has dropped from 5 points at the end of last week to less than 2 points on Friday.

This is similar to 2012, when the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll showed President Barack Obama with a 3 to 7 point advantage over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the final days of the campaign while Real Clear Politics showed Obama's lead nearly vanishing ahead of the election. Obama was re-elected with a 4-point advantage in the popular vote.

Clinton, despite her national lead, appears to have lost ground in a number of states, according to a separate polling effort that takes a more granular look at the race.

The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project shows races in Florida, North Carolina and Michigan have tilted away from Clinton over the past week and are now considered too close to call. These swing states are hotly contested because their voters can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and can be decisive in presidential elections.

The project estimates that Clinton still has a 90 percent chance of winning the election, however.

With four days before Election Day, Republicans are increasingly optimistic about Trump winning.

Some of this appears to be tied to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey telling U.S. lawmakers on Oct. 28 that his agency was investigating a new trove of emails as part of a probe into Clinton's handling of classified information while serving as U.S. secretary of state.

While Comey said the emails might not be significant to the investigation, Trump and Republican leaders have seized on the news, calling it evidence that Clinton is unfit for the White House.

Since the FBI announcement, the Reuters/Ipsos poll has seen a surge in Republican expectations. More than half of Republicans now say they think Trump will win the election - up from a low point last week when Republicans were more likely to think Clinton would win.

The Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It includes 2,021 people who were considered to be likely voters from their voting history, registration status and stated intention to participate in the election. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com