A group of concerned Zimbabweans has started an anti-alcohol and drug campaign, targeting communities in which unemployed young people resort to drinking and using narcotics to alleviate the stress of not having work. As Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, those involved in the campaign say the solution lies largely with improving the country’s moribund economy. …
Світовий банк погіршив прогноз зростання для України та світової економіки
Світовий банк знизив прогноз зростання темпів світової економіки у 2019 році з 3% до 2,9%. Тенденція зачепить і регіон Східної Європи, в тому числі й Україну. В опублікованому 8 січня огляді «Перспективи розвитку світової економіки» Світовий банк відзначає зниження обсягів міжнародної торгівлі, скорочення інвестицій і підвищену напруженість у торговельних відносинах. «Уповільнення або скасування структурних реформ в Азербайджані, Вірменії, Білорусі, Туреччині та Україні викличе зростання політичної невизначеності, а посилення напруженості навколо Сирії або України здатне привести до запровадження нових санкцій і підриву довіри до регіону», – йдеться в доповіді. Світовий банк публікує доповідь «Перспективи світової економіки» двічі на рік, у січні і в червні. Експерти аналізують ключові аспекти глобальної макроекономічної кон’юнктури і їхній вплив на держави-члени організації. …
Авдіївка: фоторепортаж про український кокс
Авдіївський коксохімічний завод – одне з підприємств Донецької області, яке постраждало найбільше від бойових дій на сході України …
How Forgotten Local Plants Could Ease Malnutrition in East Timor
The Australian owners of a restaurant in East Timor are hoping to use their passion for the local cuisine to combat malnutrition in the tiny Southeast Asian nation. East Timor has Asia’s worst rates of child malnutrition, with more than 50 percent of children suffering from stunting – a condition that permanently affects their mental and physical development – according to the United Nations. But this is not primarily due to a shortage of food – instead, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF blames a lack of education and knowledge about local foods. Development worker turned restaurateur Mark Notaras said traditional dishes like batar da’an – a kind of corn stew served at his Agora Food Studio restaurant in the capital Dili – were looked down on as “poor people’s food.” “If you came to visit Timor, you could eat at 150 restaurants and never find it on a menu,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Notaras and his wife, Alva Lim, launched the non-profit Timor-Leste Food Innovators Exchange (TLFIX) last year to educate people across the country about cooking with healthy and local ingredients. They hope to persuade them to supplement diets of white rice and instant noodles – which provide cheap calories but little nutrition – with the indigenous plants that grow there. “We encourage people to eat a wider array of foods they already have around them in order to improve their nutrition,” said Notaras. UNICEF already trains mothers in East Timor to provide more nutritious meals, showing …
Asteroid-circling Spacecraft Grabs Cool Snapshot of Home
An asteroid-circling spacecraft has captured a cool snapshot of home. NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft took the picture days before going into orbit around asteroid Bennu on New Year’s Eve. The tiny asteroid — barely one-third of a mile (500 meters) across — appears as a big bright blob in the long-exposure photo released last week. Seventy million miles (110 million kilometers) away, Earth appears as a white dot, with the moon an even smaller dot but still clearly visible. Osiris-Rex is the first spacecraft to orbit such a small celestial body, and from such a close distance — about a mile (1,600 meters) out. Next year, Osiris-Rex will attempt to gather some samples from the carbon-rich asteroid, for return to Earth in 2023. Osiris-Rex launched from Florida in 2016. …
US Cancer Death Rate Hits Milestone: 25 Years of Decline
The U.S. cancer death rate has hit a milestone: It’s been falling for at least 25 years, according to a new report. Lower smoking rates are translating into fewer deaths. Advances in early detection and treatment also are having a positive impact, experts say. But it’s not all good news. Obesity-related cancer deaths are rising, and prostate cancer deaths are no longer dropping, said Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the American Cancer Society report published Tuesday. Cancer also remains the nation’s No. 2 killer. The society predicts there will be more than 1.7 million new cancer cases, and more than 600,000 cancer deaths, in the U.S. this year. A breakdown of what the report says: Decline There’s been a lot of bad news recently regarding U.S. death rates. In 2017, increases were seen in fatalities from seven of the 10 leading causes of death, according to recently released government data. But cancer has been something of a bright spot. The nation’s cancer death rate was increasing until the early 1990s. It has been dropping since, falling 27 percent between 1991 and 2016, the Cancer Society reported. Lung cancer is the main reason. Among cancers, it has long killed the most people, especially men. But the lung cancer death rate dropped by nearly 50 percent among men since 1991. It was a delayed effect from a decline in smoking that began in the 1960s, Siegel said. Prostate cancer The report has some mixed news about prostate cancer, the second leading cause …
World Bank Cuts Forecast for World Economic Growth in 2019
The World Bank is downgrading its outlook for the global economy this year, citing rising trade tension, weakening manufacturing activity and growing financial stress in emerging-market countries. In a report titled “Darkening Skies,” the anti-poverty agency said Tuesday that it expects the world economy to grow 2.9 percent in 2019, down from the 3 percent it forecast back in June. It would be the second straight year of slowing growth: The global economy expanded 3 percent last year and 3.1 percent in 2017. ‘Risks are rising’ “Global growth is slowing, and the risks are rising,” Ayhan Kose, the World Bank economist who oversees forecasts, said in an interview. “In 2017, the global economy was pretty much firing on all cylinders. In 2018, the engines started sputtering.” The bank left its forecast for the U.S. economy unchanged at 2.5 percent this year, down from 2.9 percent in 2018. It predicts 1.6 percent growth for the 19 countries that use the euro currency, down from 1.9 percent last year; and 6.2 percent growth for China, the world’s second-biggest economy, versus 6.5 percent in 2018. The bank upgraded expectations for the Japanese economy, lifting its growth forecast to 0.9 percent, up from 0.8 percent in 2018. President Donald Trump, declaring that years of U.S. support for free trade had cost America jobs, last year slapped import taxes on foreign dishwashers, solar panels, steel, aluminum and $250 billion in Chinese products. Other countries retaliated with tariffs of their own in disputes that have yet …
Malawi Campaigners Seek to End Sex in Girls’ Initiation Ceremony
In rural Malawi, families send girls as young as 12 years old for “initiation,” a traditional, cultural practice that marks a child’s entry into adulthood. But child rights campaigners say the ritual entices young girls into early sex, marriage, and teenage pregnancy — forcing many to drop out of school. One local organization is seeking to change this by teaching initiation counselors to give girls age-appropriate information. Madalitso Makosa was 13 years old when she underwent a traditional, Malawian initiation ritual to become an adult. She says after the initiation ceremony, the counselors advised her to perform a Kusasa Fumbi or “removing the dust” ritual with a man of my choice. She chose to sleep with her former boyfriend but, unfortunately, became pregnant. “Removing the dust” refers to a girl losing her virginity, often without protection, to become an adult. Those who become teenage mothers pay the price for this tradition. Makosa says when she discovered she was pregnant, she was devastated because she had to drop out of school. She is now struggling to get support to take care of her baby. She wished she had continued with her education.” During the initiation, counselors show how they prepare girls for marriage and for sex. Agnes Matemba, is an initiation counselor. She says she gives girls these lessons so that they should keep their man and prevent him from going out to look for another woman. Because, if he goes out and finds excitement in other women, he is likely …
Peru AG Resigns After Outcry Over Odebrecht Probe
Peru Attorney General Pedro Chavarry resigned on Tuesday after a public outcry over his handling of the high-profile corruption investigation involving Brazilian builder Odebrecht. His departure from the public prosecutors office marks a fresh victory for President Martin Vizcarra and supporters of his measures to uproot entrenched corruption in one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies. Chavarry prompted widespread scorn and days of street protests after he announced on New Year’s Eve that he was removing two lead prosecutors from the Odebrecht inquiry, which has targeted former presidents and presidential candidates. Vizcarra responded by sending Congress legislation to suspend Chavarry and overhaul the prosecutor’s office. Resignation protects prosecutor? Chavarry denied he was trying to meddle in the investigation and said he was stepping down to protect the independence of the prosecutor’s office, which he portrayed in his resignation letter as under attack by Vizcarra’s government. Vizcarra had repeatedly called for Chavarry to step down since he was appointed by a panel of prosecutors in July despite his ties to an alleged criminal group of judges, lawmakers and businessmen. Chavarry was later named by a prosecutor in his office as a suspect in the probe. He denies wrongdoing. A former vice president, Vizcarra has made fighting corruption a focus of his government since taking office last year to replace Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who stepped down in one of several graft scandals to grip Peru in recent years. Vizcarra, however, lacked the authority to dismiss Chavarry. Under Peru’s constitution, only Congress, where Chavarry …
Activists Warn of Gaps as EU Lifts Ban Threat on Thai Fishing Industry
Labor rights campaigners warned against complacency as the European Union on Tuesday withdrew its threat to ban Thai fishing imports into the bloc, saying that the country has made progress in tackling illegal and unregulated fishing. The EU’s so-called “yellow card” on Thai fishing exports has been in place since April 2015 as a warning that the country was not sufficiently addressing the issues. “Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing damages global fish stocks, but it also hurts the people living from the sea, especially those already vulnerable to poverty,” Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for environment and fisheries said. “Today’s decision reverses the first step of a process that could have led to a complete import ban of marine fisheries products into the EU,” he said in a statement. Thailand has amended its fisheries legal framework in line with international law, and improved its monitoring and surveillance systems, including remote monitoring of fishing activities and more robust inspections at port, the EU said. The country’s multibillion-dollar seafood industry has also come under scrutiny for slavery, trafficking and violence on fishing boats and at onshore processing facilities. After the EU threatened to ban fish exports, and the U.S. State Department said it was failing to tackle human trafficking, the Southeast Asian country toughened up its laws and increased fines for violations. Thailand has introduced modern technologies — from satellites to optical scanning and electronic payment services — to crack down on abuses. But the International Labor Organization said in March that fishermen …
Forest Fire Insurance Costs Soar
Forest fires caused by climate change are costing insurers more than ever, with the deadly fire that ravaged northern California the single most expensive natural disaster in 2018, Munich Re said in its catastrophe report Tuesday. The California wildfire that devastated the small town of Paradise in November caused losses of $16.5 billion, of which $12.5 billion were insured. Worldwide natural disasters caused $160 billion in economic damage in 2018. That was down from $350 billion the previous year, but a number of devastating hurricanes had contributed to the high losses in 2017. Insurers and reinsurers paid out $80 billion for natural disaster claims last year, down from $140 billion a year earlier but almost double the 30-year average of $41 billion, the reinsurer said. Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said that 2018 was marked by several severe natural disasters with high insured losses. “These include the unusual coincidence of severe cyclones in the U.S. and Japan, and devastating forest fires in California,” he said, adding that climate change appears to be making such large fires more common. Insurers spent $18 billion on two huge fires in the United States in 2018 — equivalent to one in every four dollars they paid out as a result of natural disasters. Ernst Rauch, the reinsurer’s chief climatologist, told Reuters that forest fires were entering a whole new dimension, costing tens of billions of dollars. “Higher and higher temperatures are leading to ever greater droughts, and high humidity in the winter means …
Obrador: Mexico Fuel Theft Curtailed, Secret ‘Hose’ Found in Refinery
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday a military-assisted crackdown had dramatically reduced fuel theft and uncovered a secret pipe that was used to siphon gasoline out of one of the country’s refineries. Such fuel theft has dropped from 787 truck loads per day to 177 since thousands of soldiers were sent to state-oil company Pemex’s installations last month, Lopez Obrador said at a daily news conference. The crackdown on years of mounting fuel theft is the leftist government’s first major move against corruption and violence after taking office on December 1, but risks angering consumers and hurting the economy. By closing off pipelines and refineries while it traced leakages, the government has triggered shortfalls and long lines at gas stations in at least six states, including Guanajuato, a major car-manufacturing hub in central Mexico. Criminal groups and others who have tapped pipelines have long been blamed for billions of dollars of losses to public coffers over the past few years, but Lopez Obrador said last month that far more fuel was being stolen directly from Pemex installations by an internal network of corrupt officials. Lopez Obrador said the military had discovered a 3-kilometer (1.9 mile)-long “hose” that was funneling fuel out of storage tanks at the Salamanca refinery in the central state of Guanajuato into a secret storage area. He admitted there were complaints about the shortages, but said they were not widespread, and urged an end to “panic” buying and said shortages were an issue of …
WHO Study Likens Palm Oil Lobbying to Tobacco, Alcohol Industries
The palm oil industry is deploying tactics similar to those of the alcohol and tobacco industries to influence research into the health effects of its product, a study published by the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Evidence of the health impact of palm oil is mixed, with some studies linking consumption to several ailments, including increased risk of death from heart disease caused by narrowing arteries, the report said. The study, “The palm oil industry and non-communicable diseases,” called for more research and tighter regulation of the $60 billion industry, and said researchers should be wary of being influenced by lobbyists. “The relationship between the palm oil and processed food industries, and the tactics they employ, resembles practices adopted by the tobacco and alcohol industries. However, the palm oil industry receives comparatively little scrutiny,” it said. Palm oil plantations, mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia, cover an area roughly the size of New Zealand, and demand is expected to grow as more countries ban trans fats, which the WHO wants banned globally by 2023. Trans fats are prepared in an industrial process that makes liquid oils solid at room temperature, and are now widely recognized as bad for health. Palm oil is naturally more solid than most other vegetable oils, and the demise of trans fats will leave it as an easy choice for ultra-processed foods, said the study, co-authored by researchers at the U.N. children’s fund UNICEF, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Britain’s University of …
US Carbon Emissions Spike in 2018
After three years of decline, U.S. carbon emissions shot up last year, based on early estimates from an independent research group. The Rhodium Group routinely monitors carbon emissions and their preliminary estimates suggest U.S. output was up 3.4 percent in 2018. This is the largest annual increase since 2010, when the nation was bouncing back from a financial crisis known as Great Recession. The research also suggests that despite the Trump administration’s efforts to revive the coal industry, it continues to decline in the face of cheap and plentiful natural gas. Bad news for coal According to the Rhodium report, coal-fired plants generating 11.2 gigawatts of power had closed by October of last year, with more scheduled for closure over the following months. While the numbers are still preliminary, if they pan out, that would make 2018 the biggest coal plant closure year on record. Far and away, natural gas is now the energy of choice in the U.S. with an increase of 166 million kilowatts per hour through October. U.S. power consumption – and carbon emissions – increased in 2018. But the transportation sector of the economy contributed the most to the nation’s record emissions. The good news is that gasoline demand is down modestly, as the hybrid and electric car industry have begun to make a small dent in the demand for gasoline. But increases in the demand for diesel and jet fuel still made transportation the biggest source of carbon emissions throughout the U.S. Another big source …
Гривня знецінилася на 32 копійки стосовно долара – дані НБУ
Гривня знецінилася на 32 копійки стосовно долара, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України. На 9 січня курс встановлений на рівні 28 гривень 2 копійок за долар. Євро подорожчав на 47 копійок – до 32 гривень 5 копійок. …
Стихійні лиха спричинили 10 400 смертей у 2018-му – дослідження
Стихійні лиха у 2018 році завдали збитків на 160 мільярдів доларів США і призвели до загибелі близько 10 400 людей – такі висновки дослідження однієї з найбільших компаній із перестрахування в світі Munich RE. Це ставить 2018 рік на четверте місце за збитковістю для страхувальних компаній за період з 1980 року. Як зазначають дослідники, прогнози на початку 2018 року не передбачали такої кількості катаклізмів, які припали на другу його половину. Всього близько 29 стихійних лих протягом року завдали збитків на мільярд доларів або більше протягом року. Серед них згадують урагани Майкл і Флоренс біля південно-східного узбережжя Сполучених Штатів, тайфуни Джебі, Мангкут і Трамі в Азії й низку землетрусів і цунамі в Індонезії, які коштували життя понад трьом тисячам людей. «На жаль, 10 400 людей по всьому світу загинули внаслідок природніх катастроф минулого року. Це ставить 2018-й в один ряд із 2016-м, 2014-м, 2000-м та ще трьома роками у 1980-х, коли кількість жертв становила близько 10 тисяч», – йдеться у звіті. Читайте також: Цунамі в Індонезії: кількість загиблих зросла до 429 Дослідники звертають увагу зокрема на те, що повені спричинили 35% смертей, хоча зазвичай цей показник становить 14%. Причину вбачають у масштабних повенях в Азії й Африці. Зі 160 мільярдів доларів, втрачених внаслідок стихійних лих, 60 мільярдів покрило страхування. У США страхувальники компенсували 68% збитків, в Азії – 23%, у Європі – 8%. Ще 1% складають страхові виплати у Південній Америці, Африці, Австралії й Океанії. …
Долар на міжбанку зріс до 28 гривень
Перші після періоду свят повноцінні торги на міжбанківському валютному ринку спричинили зростання курсу долара до рівня близько 28 гривень за одиницю американської валюти. Про це повідомляють учасники торгів. «На міжбанку нерезиденти скуповують валюту, незважаючи на її ціну, регулятор «мовчить», – відзначає валютний форум на сайті finance.ua. «У вівторок на торги вийдуть ті «дочки» іноземних компаній, то ще не купив валюту під репатріацію дивідендів (перша декада місяця). Це збільшить попит на валюту. Тим більше, що цих покупців підпирає час за такими перерахуванням валюти (тобто графік, узгоджений із НБУ) і вони змушені погоджуватися з бажаннями продавців», – так описав причину подій на міжбанку інший профільний сайт «Мінфін», який відстежує перебіг торгів. Наприкінці 2018 року на ринку відбулося посилення гривні до рівня 27 гривень 27 копійок (такий курс НБУ зафіксував на 27 грудня). 18 грудня Рада директорів МВФ затвердила нову програму співпраці з Україною на суму 3,9 мільярда доларів. Того ж дня Рада директорів Світового банку вирішила надати Україні фінансові гарантії на 750 мільйонів доларів. …
НБУ дозволив міняти валюту на пошті
Українці зможуть купувати і продавати іноземну валюту не лише в банках або обмінних пунктах, а й у поштових відділеннях, повідомив Національний банк України (НБУ). Такі зміни затверджені постановою регулятора «Про затвердження змін до окремих нормативно-правових актів НБУ». Вони набирають чинності 7 лютого 2019 року одночасно з набранням чинності законом «Про валюту і валютні операції». Небанківські фінансові установи та національний оператор поштового зв’язку, які вже мають генеральні ліцензії на здійснення валютних операцій, матимуть шість місяців перехідного періоду, до 7 серпня 2019 року, щоб привести свою діяльність у відповідність до нових вимог. Нові підходи до валютообмінних операцій є частиною нової системи валютного регулювання та відбуваються в межах «валютної лібералізації». «Кінцева мета Національного банку – зняття всіх наявних обмежень і перехід до режиму вільного руху капіталу, який стане підґрунтям для полегшення ведення бізнесу та інвестиційного клімату в Україні, припливу іноземного капіталу, стійкого економічного зростання», – ідеться в повідомленні НБУ, в якому регулятор оприлюднив «усі нормативно-правові акти, які є основою для нової ліберальної системи валютного регулювання, передбаченої Законом України «Про валюту і валютні операції». …
Amazon стала найдорожчою компанією світу
Компанія американця Джефа Безоса Amazon 7 січня стала найдорожчою у світі. Про це пише The Wall Street Journal. Капіталізація Amazon склала 797 мільярдів доларів. Найближчими її конкурентами стали Microsoft (784 мільярди доларів) і Alphabet (740 мільярдів доларів). Amazon – компанія-рітейлер, яка займається продажем товарів та послуг через інтернет. Також займається кіновиробництвом. …
Burundian Entrepreneur Develops Line of Cosmetics to Prevent Malaria
Some 435-thousand people died of malaria in 2017, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa – according to the World Health Organization. An entrepreneur in Burundi has developed a line of cosmetics that keep mosquitos, which carry malaria, at bay. More from Arash Arabasadi. …
Zimbabwe’s Hospitals Turn Away Patients as Doctors’ Strike Drags On
Hospitals in Zimbabwe are turning away patients as a strike by doctors enters its sixth week. There is no end in sight to the strike, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government says it cannot meet the doctors’ demands. The Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Zimbabwe’s largest treatment center, is largely empty as a doctors’ strike that began December 1 drags on. Sixty-nine-year-old Kasirina Zibveka had a lung infection in September, according to her medical records. After numerous tests were done, it was confirmed that her right lung had gone bad and needed to be removed. But by then, doctors were on strike. She was discharged December 13 and was told to return Monday for the ailing lung to be removed. But with the strike unresolved, that did not happen. Her daughter, Margret Chikoti, says the family has paid for her treatment, but only nurses are attending to her mother. “We have no idea what is really happening to her since December 13,” she said. “All we see is her discharging some blood stained stinking fluids [through a hole pierced by nurses under her right breast]. What is happening inside her body? Is it getting worse? We just give her painkillers and use ointment to clean her wound. We hope that their negotiations [doctors and government] bear fruit and they return to work.” Doctors held a meeting Monday and resolved to remain on strike until their demands are met. The doctors want the government to equip hospitals with modern technology, sufficient …
US Expresses Optimism About Trade Talks with China
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said there is “a very good chance” that the United States and China will reach a trade agreement. Ross told CNBC he is hopeful such a deal would address “all the key issues.” Working-level trade talks between the United States and China began Monday in Beijing with negotiators for the world’s two biggest economies trying to resolve tariff disputes that have roiled world markets in recent weeks. In a sign the meeting was off to a good start, China’s economic czar, Vice Premier Liu He, dropped by the talks on Monday to encourage the negotiators. While Chinese officials expressed optimism at the start of the two-day talks, Beijing at the same time complained about the sighting of the U.S.S. McCampbell, a warship, in what it said were Chinese waters near disputed islands in the South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had made “stern complaints” with the United States about the sighting of the destroyer, but the trade talks went ahead as scheduled. There was no immediate U.S. response to the Chinese complaint. Few details have emerged from the trade talks, which are scheduled to run through Tuesday. The trade talks are the result of an agreement last month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop the tit-for-tat tariff conflict between the two countries for 90 days starting on New Year’s Day. Trump said last week, “I think we’ll have a deal with China.” Lu said …
Chinese Scientist Criticized for Risking ‘Gene-edited’ Babies’ Lives
A leading geneticist who ran the conference where a Chinese scientist said he had made the world’s first “gene-edited” babies condemned him on Monday for potentially jeopardizing lives and having no biology training. Robin Lovell-Badge, organizer of the November 2018 event where China’s He Jiankui made his controversial presentation, described him as a rich man with a “huge ego” who “wanted to do something he thinks will change the world.” He Jiankui, associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, sparked an international scientific and ethical row when he said he had used a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born in November. He could not be immediately reached to respond to Lovell-Badge’s comments. Chinese authorities are investigating him and have meanwhile halted this kind of research. In videos posted online and at the conference, He said he believed his gene editing would help protect the girls from infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Lovell-Badge, a professor and gene expert at Britain’s Francis Crick Institute who led the organizing committee for the November Human Genome Editing Summit at Hong Kong University, said it was impossible to know what He had actually done. “If it’s true (that he edited the genomes in the way he says) then it is certainly possible that he has put the children’s lives at risk,” he told journalists in London. “No-one knows what these mutations will do.” Lovell-Badge said he originally invited He to …
Mexico Fuel Theft Crackdown Sparks Shortages, Puts Govt. on Defensive
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday that his crackdown against fuel theft was yielding positive results, even as the intervention sparked severe fuel shortages in parts of the country and long lines of angry motorists. In a bid to eliminate years of mounting theft, state oil firm Pemex has changed its distribution, triggering shortfalls in at least six states, including Guanajuato, a major car-making hub in central Mexico. Guanajuato’s state government said that less than one third of the state’s gas stations were open on Monday. Lopez Obrador told a news conference the government had not established a date for when operations would return to normal, but stressed that supply was not in danger. “We are changing the whole distribution system, that’s the reason for the shortage. We have enough gasoline,” he said. Mexican television showed long lines of drivers waiting to fill up in central states as well as Jalisco in the west and Tamaulipas in the north. Years of fuel theft by criminal groups and others by tapping pipelines and stealing tanker trucks has led to losses totaling billions of dollars for public coffers. Lopez Obrador’s government has ordered the armed forces to intervene in Pemex’s facilities, including one refinery. “The supply will normalize, and at the same time we are going to guarantee that fuel is not stolen,” said Lopez Obrador, who took office in December. “We have seen a reduction in theft like never before … but we still have work to do.” …