Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

Coronavirus: The world needs to learn from the Ebola fight
Liberia's ex-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says the world must conquer fear to deal with coronavirus.

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Kremlin Fights U.S. Sanctions, Backs Maduro in Rosneft Deal
(Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin’s sudden shift of ownership of multi-billion-dollar oil projects in Venezuela shields oil giant Rosneft PJSC from further U.S. sanctions but keeps Moscow firmly behind embattled President Nicolas Maduro amid a wider stand-off with Washington.“Russia is not walking away from Maduro and will seek to thwart U.S. efforts to depose him,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former diplomat and foreign policy analyst in Moscow. “Moscow is just shielding Rosneft from sanctions which could result in a blanket embargo on all Rosneft exports.”Fears of broader sanctions have grown after the U.S. in recent months slapped restrictions on Rosneft trading companies for handling business with Venezuela. More recently, the U.S. has hinted that it might step up pressure on the Russian oil sector to reduce production. That followed Moscow’s decision early this month not to deepen output cuts agreed with OPEC led Saudi Arabia to boost output, flooding the market and pushing prices to the lowest levels in decades.The administration of President Donald Trump has already reached out to Saudi leaders to reconsider their strategy, which has battered producers in the U.S. with low prices.Read: Putin and MBS Draw Trump Into Grudge Match for Oil SupremacyRosneft late Saturday announced it’s turning over its Venezuelan projects to an unnamed state-owned company in what it called an effort to protect its shareholders’ interests. Rosneft, which produces 40% of Russian oil and 5% of world output and has substantial exposure in the western financial system, can’t afford the risk of broad U.S. sanctions that could cripple its operations. Earlier this month, a Chinese company said it wouldn’t buy crude from Rosneft because of the risks caused by the sanctions on the trading companies.“As recently as February, the Venezuelan business was profitable, which offset the sanctions risk,” said Ivan Timofeyev, an analyst at the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “Now the desire to avoid sanctions coincided with the need to avoid losses” after oil prices plunged, he added.The Russian giant has already cut its exposure under multi-billion-dollar prepayment deals reached several years ago. Venezuela’s oil producer PDVSA owes Rosneft only $800 million at the end of the third quarter of 2019, according to the last available data, down from $4.6 billion at the end of 2017.Sanctions ProtectionThe latest Russian maneuver mirrored its strategy in 2018 when it used Promsvzyabank to set up a new banking vehicle to serve the defense industry after state-owned weapons producers came under U.S. sanctions, thereby shielding the country’s two largest banks, government-controlled Sberbank and VTB. Unlike those big lenders, which have significant exposure to western financial institutions and thus are at risk from sweeping U.S. sanctions, the new special entity operated largely out of Washington’s reach.While Rosneft may even push to have the recently imposed sanctions on the trading units lifted, risks remain.“Rosneft is trying to stay out of the firing-line but nothing stops the Americans from finding another pretext to sanction it,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, who heads the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a research group in Moscow that advises the Kremlin.“Russia understands that Maduro is in an awful situation, especially with oil prices at rock bottom,” he said. “But Putin’s psychology is that you should stick with partners in difficulty.”Maduro said on state TV on Saturday evening that ”President Putin sent me a message through his ambassador reaffirming their strategic and integral support to Venezuela in all areas.”Rosneft StakeFrolov said, “Moscow thinks that Maduro is actually winning the fight with the opposition and is likely to split it to the point where he would be able to win parliamentary elections this year.” Russia has backed Maduro even as the U.S. and its allies back opposition leader Juan Guaido.For Rosneft, the deal also could give management, led by Igor Sechin, its influential chief executive, greater control, since the company is receiving 9.6% of its own shares in the transaction. That may mean the government’s share in Rosneft falls below a controlling stake, according to Andrey Polischuk, Moscow-based analyst for Raiffeisenbank.Neither the company nor the government would comment on whether the deal will bring state ownership below 50%.“Sechin gets Rosneft shares and Putin gets the chance to trade with Trump,” said Konstantin Simonov, head of the National Energy Security Fund in Moscow.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Instacart workers seek strike as jobs get busier, riskier
A possible strike by Instacart workers highlights the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the grocery delivery business, where workers are worried about their safety as they try to meet a surge in demand for online groceries. Instacart said Sunday it would soon provide workers with a new hand sanitizer upon request and outlined changes to its tip system.

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Yahoo! Sports - News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

Why everyone's happy for Teddy Bridgewater
Bridgewater was beloved in New Orleans for his unselfishness and competitiveness. People also like a good comeback story, so he has plenty of well-wishers in Carolina.

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2020 NBA Mock Draft 2.0: Where will Obi Toppin get picked?
Here is an updated 2020 NBA mock draft. Who are the best 2020 NBA Draft prospects? One thing that needs to be mentioned before we get into the meat of this 2020 NBA mock draft is that the only thing certain about the draft is that, eventually, it is going to happen. When will the

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NFL mock draft: Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa will go early
Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa are all expected to be first-round picks in the NFL draft. The question is: When will they be off the board?

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Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

In Iraq, no resting place for coronavirus dead
For Saad Malik, losing his father to the novel coronavirus was only the beginning of his nightmare. For over a week, cemeteries across Iraq refused to allow the elderly man's burial. Fearing the respiratory illness could somehow spread from the corpses to nearby population centres, Iraqi religious authorities, tribes and townspeople have sent the bodies of COVID-19 victims back to hospital morgues, where they are piling up.

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Dominguez urges more support and delegated authority for President Asakawa so ADB can respond swiftly to COVID-19 crisis
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III of Department of Finance, Republic of the Philippines has urged his fellow governors at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to empower its President Mr. Masatsugu Asakawa with more discretion in undertaking measures to address the health emergency associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and any resulting economic fallout.

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Coronavirus: Trump extends US guidelines beyond Easter
He says social distancing should continue until at least 30 April as the crisis is set to peak soon.

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Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

Pelosi: Trump's downplaying of coronavirus has cost American lives
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharpened her criticism of President Trump’s early dismissal of the coronavirus, saying the delay cost American lives. She criticized the president's initial response to the virus during a Sunday morning interview on CNN.

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In the coronavirus pandemic, carbon emissions have fallen, but climate change remains an existential threat
In a world desperate for good news about the coronavirus, a dip in global carbon emissions caused by the outbreak’s economic downturn might be seen as a silver lining. But climate scientists and policy experts aren’t encouraged.   

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A New York dad refused to let his 21-year-old son back in their house after the spring breaker partied in Texas amid coronavirus spread
"I was aggravated," Peter Levine said of his son's decision to party on South Padre Island instead of heeding warnings about the virus.

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