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Greece looks to repay IMF early as bond yields tumble

The Greek government says it is in talks with European bailout lenders to repay its debts to the International Monetary Fund early as market borrowing rates tumbled to their lowest level since 2005.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said Greece is hoping to repay a "significant portion" of its remaining 9.6 billion euros ($10.9 billion) owed to the IMF ahead of schedule. His remarks Monday follow a meeting in Washington between Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.

The yield on Greece's 10-year bond dropped further to 3.28% Monday, matching levels not seen in 14 years.

Greece would need approval from the eurozone's rescue fund to repay its IMF loans early, but top officials in the agency and the European Commission have already praised the idea.

Source: Fox News World

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Sen. Blackburn: Trump Right With Threats to Shut Down Border

President Donald Trump "is right" with his threats to shut down the Mexican border unless Mexico does more to stem the numbers of migrants traveling through on their way to the United States, Sen. Marsha Blackburn said Monday.

"What we need to realize is that until we close the southern border, every town is a border town, every state is a border state, because drugs, human sex trafficking, gangs, they are all there on the southern border," the Tennessee Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."

"Mexico needs to secure their southern border to end entry into Mexico and then we do need to do some things there, getting the Border Patrol, what they need to do their job."

Meanwhile, it is "unfortunate" that Democrats won't work with Republicans on the nation's immigration laws, because "this is a national security emergency," said Blackburn.

"This is in our interest to secure it, to stop the drugs coming into our country, to stop the sex trafficking, to stop these gangs," said Blackburn. "This is something that needs to be done because they continue to come across the border until we get that barrier, they're going to put their foot on US soil, say asylum. Our Border Patrol is overrun."

The United States also needs Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador to work together toward solving the migration issue, said Blackburn, adding that the Border Patrol's morale is "very low right now."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Stephen Hawking's former carer banned from nursing after facing multiple misconduct charges

Professor Stephen Hawking’s former carer has been banned from nursing after she “failed to provide the standards of good, professional care" that the scientist "deserved".

Patricia Dowdy, 61, had faced multiple misconduct charges about the care she had provided to the world renowned physicist including financial misconduct and dishonesty.

Dowdy had been working for Professor Hawking, who had been confined to a wheelchair, for 15 years before his death.

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Queen Elizabeth II meets Professor Stephen Hawking (R) during a reception for Leonard Cheshire Disability in the State Rooms, St James's Palace on May 29, 2014 in London. Hawking is accompanied by Patricia Dowdy.

Queen Elizabeth II meets Professor Stephen Hawking (R) during a reception for Leonard Cheshire Disability in the State Rooms, St James's Palace on May 29, 2014 in London. Hawking is accompanied by Patricia Dowdy. (Getty)

It is understood the scientist's family had lodged a complaint about Dowdy, with details of the case previously suppressed by the nursing regulation body to protect both Professor Hawking and the nurse's privacy.

STEPHEN HAWKING'S FINAL PAPER REVEALED

Britain's Nursing and Midwifery Council had previously claimed the secrecy order had been granted due to the nurse's "health".

Documents about the case read: "The panel remained satisfied that his right, and the rights of his family, to privacy outweighed the public interest in a fully public hearing."

STEPHEN HAWKING WHEELCHAIR SELLS FOR NEARLY $400G AT AUCTION

Physicist Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76 in March 2018.

This article originally appeared in The Sun. For more from The Sun, click here.

Source: Fox News World

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Can the EU Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

Despite the ECB’s subsidy of the Eurozone’s banking system, it remains in a sleepwalking state similar to the non-financial, non-crony-capitalist zombified economy.

Gone are the heady days of investment banking. There is now a legacy of derivatives and regulators’ fines. Technology has made the over-extended branch network, typical of a European retail bank, a costly white elephant. The market for emptying bank buildings in the towns and villages throughout Europe must be dire, a source of under-provisioned losses. On top of this, the ECB’s interest rate policy has led to lending margins becoming paper-thin.

A negative deposit rate of 0.4% at the ECB has led to negative wholesale (Euribor) money market rates along the yield curve to at least 12 months. This has allowed French banks, for example, to fund Italian government bond positions, stripping out 33 basis points on a “riskless” one-year bond. It’s the peak of collapsed lending margins when even the hare-brained can see the risk is greater than the reward, whatever the regulator says. The entire yield curve is considerably lower than Italian risk implies it should be, given its existing debt obligations, with 10-year Italian government bonds yielding only 2.55%. That’s less than equivalent US Treasuries, the global risk-free standard.

Government bond yields have been and remain considerably reduced through the ECB’s interest rate suppression and its bond-buying programs. The expansion of Eurozone government debt since the Lehman crisis has been about 50% to €9.69 trillion. This expansion, representing €3.1 trillion, compares with the expansion of the Eurosystem’s own balance sheet of €2.8 trillion since 2009. In other words, the expansion of Eurozone government debt has been nearly matched by the ECB’s monetary creation.

Bond prices, such as that of Italian 10-year debt yielding 2.55%, are therefore meaningless in the market sense. This has not been much of an issue so long as asset prices are rising and the global economy is expanding, because monetary inflation will keep the fiat bubble expanding. It is when a credit crisis materializes that the trouble starts. The fiat bubble develops leaks and eventually implodes.

Now that the global economy has stopped expanding and is on the brink of recession, under these changing conditions the monetary, systemic and economic dangers facing the Eurozone are rapidly rising. This is a problem beyond the ability of the ECB to contain. Politicians and their institutions in Brussels seem unaware of the approaching storm, but when they do become aware, they will turn to group-think for protection. Like fish in a tightening bait-ball, they actions are set to accelerate their own demise.

The Start of EU Disintegration

There can be no doubt that the ECB has so far only managed to prevent a financial and systemic crisis materializing because of the background of a worldwide monetary and credit expansion inflating financial asset prices. A global background of rising asset values was necessary for the consequences of the Greek financial crisis to be absorbed without destabilizing the whole caboodle. If it had happened during a global credit crisis the outcome would have been different.

Inevitably, at some stage the euro’s purchasing power will begin to fall under the weight of accelerating monetary inflation and the demands from crony-capitalists for a competitive exchange rate. Rising bond yields will be the inevitable outcome, requiring yet more QE from the ECB. It takes little imagination to realize that in an environment of rising bond yields and falling asset values the Italian government and its economy will be exposed to intractable difficulties. The difference from the on-going Greek crisis is Italy’s economy is nearly ten times the size of that of Greece. So far, aided by inflating markets, there has not been a full-blown crisis. In a vicious bond bear market of the scale likely to accompany the next credit crisis, Italy alone could crash the whole Eurosystem.

That could happen by the end of this year, because when things go wrong the pace calamities usually accelerates. Today, the EU is threatened with Brexit, which at the time of writing is yet to be resolved. But there’s a significant possibility Britain will leave the EU without a comprehensive trade deal and without paying all the money allegedly owed to the EU. The money will have to be made up by the other members, principally by Germany, France, Italy and Spain, being the largest remaining economies. Furthermore, the UK’s economic policy is bound to focus on being a competitive regional entrepôt for global trade, enhancing her economic performance relative to a stultifying EU. Existing political tensions within the EU are certain to escalate as the EU falls behind, and Brussels, hooked on profligacy, for the first time faces budget cuts.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to independent observers that the EU supra-national socializing model is failing structurally, politically, economically and financially. The next credit crisis, which appears to be evolving from the seeds of today’s events, looks set to end the European dream.



Big Tech has gained power by absorbing personal data from its users.

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Serial bank robbery suspect ‘Iconic Facce’ stole to pay for plastic surgery: police

An alleged serial bank robber known as “Iconic Facce” was arrested in Texas on Friday, accused of stealing to pay for plastic surgery, police say.

Facce, a transgender woman who was born Jimmy Maurice Lewis II, was stopped by police at George Bush International Airport in Houston on her way back from Mexico after a fresh round of surgery, according to The Telegraph.

The newspaper said Facce, 37, is being charged with robbing a Mississippi bank last month. Witnesses described the suspect as someone who just had plastic surgery, because her lips were swollen.

WISCONSIN MAN CHARGED IN ROBBERY WANTED TO "TRY SOMETHING NEW"

Facce has also been charged with bank robberies in Alabama, Texas, Georgia and Tennessee, and has allegedly demanded up to $20,000 in cash, the paper said.

She is awaiting extradition back to Mississippi.

Fox News' Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News National

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Catholic priest stabbed during televised mass in Canada

A Catholic priest was stabbed several times while leading mass on Friday morning in Montreal.

Rev. Claude Grou, the rector at St. Joseph's Oratory, had just finished a reading around 8:40 am when a man rushed towards him with a knife and stabbed him in his upper body.

The attack at the landmark church was captured on a livestream and television, as the mass was being broadcast to the Catholic channel Salt + Light.

US MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY STABBING WIFE IN TOKYO COURT

A suspect has already been taken into custody and will be questioned by investigators later today, according to CBC.

Father Grou suffered only superficial wounds and is expected to make a full recovery. The diocese of Montreal tweeted that he was in stable condition, and that "all of our prayers are with him."

Montreal's mayor, Valerie Plante, condemned the act of violence.

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"I am relieved to learn that the life of Father Claude Grou, Rector of the [Oratory] is out of danger and that his condition is stable," she tweeted in French. "On behalf of all Montrealers, I wish him speedy recovery."

Source: Fox News World

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Buttigieg, once cordial to Pence, now critical amid campaign

On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg blasts Vice President Mike Pence's cultural and religious conservatism. But as the mayor of Indiana's fourth largest city, his tone toward the state's Republican former governor was more muted.

During the four years in which they overlapped in Indiana politics, Buttigieg, the South Bend mayor, had a cordial relationship with Pence. The two collaborated on economic development issues . Buttigieg presented Pence with a South Bend promotional T-shirt that said "I (heart) SB." And at ceremonial events, Pence would lavish Buttigieg with praise.

The relationship between the two men has come under scrutiny as Buttigieg's campaign becomes a surprise hit, raking in $7 million during the first quarter. As he formally launches his White House campaign on Sunday, the gay mayor has emerged as a celebrated voice for LGBT equality and religious tolerance. And Buttigieg has hardened his rhetoric toward Pence, using President Donald Trump's vice president as a foil representing an oppressive opposition.

At a recent LGBT event, Buttigieg spoke of the importance of his marriage to his husband, Chasten, and framed his sexuality in religious terms.

"If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade," Buttigieg said. "And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: that if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."

He has previously called Pence's religious conservatism a "fanatical" ideology.

By Buttigieg's own admission in his campaign memoir, his relationship with Pence is "complicated." In an interview with CNBC that aired on Thursday, Pence said they had a "great working relationship" and criticized the mayor's characterization of his religious beliefs.

"He knows better," Pence said. "He knows me."

The complex dynamic between Buttigieg and Pence reflects a connection born of political necessity between two men on the cusp of unlikely political and personal paths. And to some fellow Indiana Democrats, it was frustrating.

In a state with few influential Democrats, some hoped to tap into Buttigieg's burgeoning political celebrity to help them rebut Pence and his policies, according to two party strategists who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal debate. But they found he was often reluctant to take on the then-governor directly or forcefully.

In early 2015, Pence was grappling with an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana and facing calls from political leaders, including some fellow Republicans, to respond by approving a needle exchange program. Buttigieg, who was months away from publicly coming out as gay, was largely absent from that debate.

Pence caused a national uproar that year by signing a "religious freedom" law criticized as anti-LGBT. Republicans including the mayor of Indianapolis demanded that the governor and the GOP legislature "fix this law" and "do so immediately." Buttigieg criticized Statehouse politicians for the "most embarrassing incident" and tweeted he was "disappointed" Pence signed the bill.

But several weeks later, as the controversy raged, Buttigieg attended a Pence event in South Bend. The mayor told the South Bend Tribune, "I'm focused on how we can work together across city limits and across the aisle."

"With respect to Pence's worst blunder, his most difficult controversy, Mayor Pete was not leading the charge against him," said Robert Dion, a political science professor at the University of Evansville in southern Indiana. "If you're a Democratic mayor in a Republican state and you rely on friendly relations with the General Assembly, you don't necessarily want to be lobbing bombs all the time. But that should not preclude someone from speaking out forcefully on a pressing civil rights issue."

Buttigieg publicly came out as gay about three months after Pence signed the "religious freedom" law. In his book, Buttigieg acknowledged that he passed up the chance to urge Pence in person to veto the measure.

"I wish I could say I made a good effort to talk him out of it, but it was clear from the look in his eyes that he had made up his mind," he wrote, referring to a meeting in which Pence told Buttigieg and other mayors he planned to sign the legislation.

As mayor, Buttigieg's allies argue he had to maintain a cordial relationship with a governor who held sway over money sorely needed in South Bend.

"It doesn't help your city if you have an adversarial relationship with the sitting governor, and Mayor Buttigieg recognized that," said Greg Goodnight, the Democratic mayor of Kokomo, Indiana, who supports Buttigieg's White House ambitions.

For example, one of Pence's last major policy achievements as governor was a program that awarded funding to several regions for redevelopment, including $42 million for the greater South Bend area . During a ceremonial 2016 groundbreaking at a long-shuttered Studebaker factory, Buttigieg and Pence stood side by side and shook hands after scooping dirt with their shovels.

"Where they agreed on issues, like economic development, the mayor worked with then-Gov. Pence for the good of his constituents and his city," Buttigieg spokeswoman Lis Smith said. "Where they disagreed, the mayor stood up to him, like when Pence embarrassed the state of Indiana with anti-LGBTQ laws, or when he wanted to turn away refugees from the state, or when Pence's policies hurt South Bend's workers."

Still, some wish Buttigieg would play it less safe, particularly now that he's on a national stage. Tony Flora, president of the North Central Indiana AFL-CIO chapter, said the mayor says the right things but should expend more political capital.

"I would look to Pete Buttigieg to be a louder voice and be more forceful," Flora said. "He came to our rallies, signed petitions and did make public remarks, but he could have been a bit more substantive instead of just making speeches — taking some action and being more supportive."

Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who is a lesbian, said she sympathized with the complicated situation Buttigieg was in as mayor, especially when he dealt with Pence.

"The answer that I came to, and I'm assuming Pete did as well, is that first and foremost, you are the mayor," said Parker, who is now the president and CEO of Victory Fund, a group that works to elect LGBT candidates. "You are not an activist. You are the mayor. And every time you speak, it has an impact on your city — for good or ill. And it's something you have to navigate."

___

Smith reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

Source: Fox News National

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer holds annual general meeting
Werner Baumann, CEO of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG, attends the annual general shareholders meeting in Bonn, Germany, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

BONN (Reuters) – Bayer shareholders vented their anger over its stock price slump on Friday as litigation risks mount from the German drugmaker’s $63 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.

Several large investors said they will not support aspirin investor Bayer’s management in a key vote scheduled for the end of its annual general meeting.

Bayer’s management, led by chief executive Werner Baumann, could see an embarrassing plunge in approval ratings, down from 97 percent at last year’s AGM, which was held shortly before the Monsanto takeover closed in June.

A vote to ratify the board’s actions features prominently at every German AGM. Although it has no bearing on management’s liability, it is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment.

“Due to the continued negative development at Bayer, high legal risks and a massive share price slump, we refuse to ratify the management board and supervisory board’s actions during the business year,” Janne Werning, representing Germany’s Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder, said in prepared remarks.

About 30 billion euros ($34 billion) have been wiped off Bayer’s market value since August, when a U.S. jury found the pesticide and drugs group liable because Monsanto had not warned of alleged cancer risks linked to its weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer suffered a similar defeat last month and more than 13,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages.

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

Deutsche Bank’s asset managing arm DWS said shareholders should have been consulted before the takeover, which was agreed in 2016 and closed in June last year.

“You are pointing out that the lawsuits have not been lost yet. We and our customers, however, have already lost something – money and trust,” Nicolas Huber, head of corporate governance at DWS, said in prepared remarks for the AGM.

He said DWS would abstain from the shareholder vote of confidence in the executive and non-executive boards.

Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters this week that Bayer’s largest shareholder, BlackRock, plans to either abstain from or vote against ratifying the management board’s actions.

Asset management firm Deka, among Bayer’s largest German investors, has also said it would cast a no vote.

Baumann said Bayer’s true value was not reflected in the current share price.

“There’s no way to make this look good. The lawsuits and the first verdicts weigh heavily on our company and it’s a concern for many people,” he said, adding it was the right decision to buy Monsanto and that Bayer was vigorously defending itself.

This month, shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recommended investors not to give the executive board their seal of approval.

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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