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Romania’s growing pains just keep coming back

Thousands of crows fly at dusk over the city skyline in Bucharest
FILE PHOTO: Thousands of crows fly at dusk over the city skyline in Bucharest November 27, 2012. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti

March 27, 2019

By Luiza Ilie and Marc Jones

BUCHAREST/LONDON (Reuters) – Almost every former Eastern Bloc country has suffered growing pains at some point over the last few decades. Romania’s just seem to keep coming back.

Fumbling attempts to bring in new bank, energy and telecoms taxes in recent months are the latest example of its struggle to assert itself as a fully functioning economy.

Two years ago, growth outpaced nearly all its European peers, spurring hopes it was finally harnessing the potential of its 20 million population — the second biggest in central Europe behind Poland — and its own oil and gas reserves.

But having been inflated by some potent fiscal stimulus, the expansion is now fading so fast again — to 4 percent last year from 7 percent in 2017 — that some analysts fear another boom and bust is playing out.

Expectations are dimming that equity index provider MSCI might promote Romania to emerging market status alongside peers like Poland and the Czech Republic as soon as this year, which would draw money into its undersized financial markets.

The IPO market is at a standstill and the new taxes worried S&P enough that it threatened to change Romania’s credit rating outlook to negative.

Bucharest averted that by promising to tweak the measures to preserve central bank independence. But the confusion has only added to a view that policymaking has become unpredictable.

“The frequency of legislative changes has been increasing and often seems to come out of the blue,” said Franklin Templeton’s Romania CEO, Johan Meyer, who manages the Fondul Proprietatea fund which has stakes in a slew of state-owned firms.

“Sometimes the decisions do get reversed or watered down, but at that point the reputational damage has been done.”

As the country gears up for four elections in 2019-20, Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici had said the measures would help the economy “aggressively in the good way” by lowering borrowing costs and energy prices.

A ROAD TO NOWHERE

In the 12 years since it joined the European Union, Romania’s per capita national output has doubled, to roughly 60 percent of the euro zone average, while record low unemployment led to double-digit average wage growth in the last four years.

But income inequalities are among the bloc’s highest. One-third of the population lives in poverty and millions lack sufficient access to healthcare and basic amenities like indoor plumbing.

Its population is both shrinking and aging, while backsliding in the battle against chronic corruption has led to mass street protests.

“Investor confidence is being eroded by persistent legislative instability, unpredictable decision-making, low institutional quality and the continued weakening of the fight against corruption,” the European Commission said in February.

And while Romania is up 16 places on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index since joining the EU, Bulgaria, which also joined in 2007, has leapfrogged it.

Graphic: Poverty levels in EU interactive – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UR8cEa

This month, a businessman from northeastern Romania opened a one-meter-long motorway, built in a day and paid for by him, in protest at the state of the country’s roads.

Romania has only 800 kilometers of motorways, less than half that of Hungary even though it is more than double the size of its neighbor and has almost twice as many people.

Just 75 kilometers have been built in the last three years and none go border-to-border despite years of government promises.

Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu routinely uses roads to highlight poor infrastructure that impedes economic development.

“Romania will be ready to join the euro when it has a motorway crossing the Carpathian mountains,” he has said.

Graphic: Romania motorways interactive – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ol8Abt

PATCHY IMPROVEMENTS

A series of International Monetary Fund-led aid deals in 2009-2015 helped Romania shrink its budget and current account deficits, seen as a key weakness of the economy, and it won back its investment-grade rating in 2014. Its debt to debt-to-GDP is low, in line with the Czech Republic’s at around 38 percent.

But those twin deficits are rising again after tax cuts and wage and pensions hikes that have inflated consumption.

The external shortfall was 4.7 percent of GDP in 2018, a decade high, although the government has kept the budget deficit under the EU’s 3 percent ceiling by postponing investments.

“Policies focused on raising public sector wages and pensions have widened imbalances and at some point their adjustment will be unavoidable,” said the head of Romania’s fiscal watchdog Ionut Dumitru.

“The current account deficit is at a level that can no longer be ignored.”

Graphic: Romania’s boom and bust cycles – https://tmsnrt.rs/2OfoiEO

PROMOTION PROSPECTS

Its financial markets are lagging too. Bucharest’s main stock market has only 16 companies and the tax changes have knocked banking and energy firms, leaving it with the lowest price-to-earnings ratio in the region.

Privatisations of firms like power utility Hidroelectrica, which were supposed to broaden and deepen the market and help its prospects of an MSCI promotion, have not materialized.

“They (Romania) are always remain on our radar screen. But so far it hasn’t reached the market classification framework requirements,” MSCI’s Sebastien Lieblich said, citing the small number of listed stocks.

Franklin Templeton’s Meyer blames government foot-dragging and a system whereby company directors can serve for just a few months, so that turnover at board level can hamper the six-to-nine month process of preparing a firm for the stock market.

He reckons up to five state-owned firms could easily be floated but sees none happening soon.

“It is like any promotion,” Meyer said of MSCI. “If you only do the bare minimum in your job you don’t get it.”

Graphic: Price-to-earnings ratio of Romania’s stock market – https://tmsnrt.rs/2OaW3Hr

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest and Marc Jones in London; Additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Woods turns back the clock with a 70 in Masters first round

Tiger Woods of the U.S. walks on the 16th green during first round play of the 2019 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Tiger Woods of the U.S. walks on the 16th green during first round play of the 2019 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

April 11, 2019

By Andrew Both

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Tiger Woods missed a couple of short putts early in the first round before charging up the leaderboard at the Masters on Thursday, at times reminding everyone of his former glories.

Fourteen years since his last Masters triumph, 14 times major winner Woods birdied the 13th and 14th holes to tie for the lead at Augusta National.

Yet a couple of poor drives down the stretch, along with a judgment error, left the four-times Masters champion to card a slightly disappointing two-under-par 70.

He was one stroke off the clubhouse lead, held by Australian Adam Scott, Spaniard Jon Rahm and South African Justin Harding.

“Played well today, hit a lot of good shots,” Woods said.

“If I missed, I missed in the correct spot. I had simpler up-and-downs because of that.

“I missed a few (putts) for sure, misread a couple and hit a bad one at six. Other than that it was a good solid day.”

After a two-putt birdie at the par-five 13th, Woods picked up another shot at the 14th with a typically Tigeresque effort.

He threaded his 150-yard approach shot through the Augusta pines and then sank a sharply-breaking 25-foot putt, giving an understated little fist pump as the patrons roared their approval.

When he drove down the middle at the par-five 15th, leaving less than 200 yards to the pin, it seemed likely Woods would take the outright lead.

Yet one poorly-judged shot pricked his balloon.

“Get down, down, down,” he barked at his ball while it was in the air, before adding “oh my god” when he saw it overshoot the green.

The ball landed on a downslope and bounded 40 yards beyond the hole, leaving a devilishly difficult pitch shot.

The 43-year-old struck a heavy wedge shot which never had a chance of making it up the slope, prompting a wry smile.

He hit the next one close and saved par.

Later, Woods carved his drive into the trees at the par-four 17th, and though he found a nice gap for his second shot, he came up short of the green and bogeyed the hole.

Earlier, Woods missed a five-foot putt at the fifth and an even shorter one at the next. He also missed a great birdie chance at the par-five eighth.

(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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Easter bonfires in Germany canceled over wildfire risk

Authorities in eastern Germany are canceling plans for traditional Easter bonfires because warm, dry weather has increased the risk of wildfires.

Firefighters managed to control a forest fire in Koenigs Wusterhausen near Berlin early Friday, one of several in the eastern state of Brandenburg in recent days.

Germany saw several large-scale wildfires last summer, which was exceptionally long and hot. Experts say climate change could make such blazes more likely in the country in future.

The government plans to pass a package of measures this year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb global warming.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze told weekly Der Spiegel in an interview Friday that the measures could include a carbon tax, with the revenues redistributed to citizens in some other form, as in neighboring Switzerland.

Source: Fox News World

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Alyssa Milano pushes against Georgia abortion ban, Georgia pushes back

Actress Alyssa Milano and around 30 other Georgia-based film TV and film workers urged Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday to veto a “heartbeat” abortion ban that has drawn scorn from Hollywood figures.

Milano -- who films her Netflix comedy “Insatiable” in Atlanta -- delivered a letter to Kemp’s office in the Statehouse in Atlanta that was signed by other prominent Hollywood actors before speaking out on the bill.

The so-called “Heartbeat” bill would prohibit most abortions in the state after a heartbeat is detected – which can come as early as six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. It would not apply in the case of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is in danger.

STEPHEN BALDWIN GOES ON TWITTER RANT AFTER BROTHER ALEC SIGNS ALYSSA MILANO-DRIVEN ABORTION PETITION

“We are going to do everything in our power to move our industry to a safer state for women if HB 481 becomes law,” Milano said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Last month, she tweeted the bill would “strip women of their bodily autonomy.”

But Georgia state Rep. Dominic LaRiccia, a Republican, confronted Milano outside Kemp’s office and asked which Georgia district she votes in. She replied she is currently working in the state but does not live there.

The legislation was approved last week and is backed by Kemp, who told the Journal-Constitution he won't be swayed by Milano's arguments against the proposal.

'HEARTBEAT' BILLS GAINING MOMENTUM IN SEVERAL STATES, INCLUDING KENTUCKY AND MISSISSIPPI

"I can't govern because I'm worried about what someone in Hollywood thinks about me," Kemp told the newspaper. "I ran the last two years on these issues, and I got elected with the largest number of votes in the history of the state of Georgia, and I'm doing what I told people I would do."

"I can't govern because I'm worried about what someone in Hollywood thinks about me. I ran the last two years on these issues, and I got elected with the largest number of votes in the history of the state of Georgia."

— Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. (Associated Press)

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. (Associated Press)

Before it passed last week, film and crew members sent letters to production companies HBO, Sony, Disney, universal, Marvel and Netflix, urging them to publicly oppose the bill. Georgia has become a major hub for the film industry because of its generous tax credits.

The state was home to 455 productions last fiscal year, generating $9.5 billion in economic impact and $2.7 billion in direct spending, the paper reported.

Actress Alyssa Milano, left, delivers a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's office detailing her opposition to HB 481 at the State Capitol Tuesday, April 2, 2019, in Atlanta. HB 481 would ban almost all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. (Associated Press)

Actress Alyssa Milano, left, delivers a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's office detailing her opposition to HB 481 at the State Capitol Tuesday, April 2, 2019, in Atlanta. HB 481 would ban almost all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. (Associated Press)

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“These are the men that are voting on what goes on inside my uterus,” Milano said Tuesday.

Milano has become a prominent activist for the #MeToo movement and fierce critic of President Trump. In January, she compared his supporters to members of the Ku Klux Klan, saying "The red MAGA hat is the new white hood.”

During the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Milano supported women who accused him of sexually assaulting them years before.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Gillibrand makes it official, launching her 2020 White House campaign

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is officially running for president, formally declaring her candidacy Sunday morning.

“We need a leader who makes big, bold, brave choices. Someone who isn’t afraid of progress. That’s why I’m running for president. And it’s why I’m asking you for your support,” the New York Democrat says in a video announcing the official launch of her campaign.

GILLIBRAND HITS TRUMP OVER WHITE NATIONALISM COMMENTS

The move comes two months after Gillibrand set up a presidential exploratory committee -- which allowed her to raise money and build a campaign structure -- and began introducing herself to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – three of the four states that kick off the primary and caucus calendar - as well as California and Texas, which hold contests immediately after the early voting states.

In her video – titled "Brave Wins" – the senator uses "The Star-Spangled Banner" to say that bravery has been a constant choice in the nation’s history, and so many Americans have chosen to be brave.

Gillibrand also takes aim at President Trump, claiming the Republican has promoted an “agenda of cowardice, hate and fear.”

“Brave doesn’t pit people against each other. Brave doesn’t put money over lives. Brave doesn’t spread hate. Cloud truth.

"Build a wall. That’s what fear does,” she charges in the video.

BETO O'ROURKE PITCHES OVERHAUL OF SUPREME COURT

Gillibrand says that if America could land astronauts on the moon, “we can definitely achieve universal health care. We can provide paid family leave for all, end gun violence, pass a Green New Deal, get money out of politics and take back our democracy.”

Her announcement comes one day after Gillibrand wrapped up her third trip this year to New Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the race for the White House.

On Monday, Gillibrand heads to Michigan to join Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for a public event with a local women’s group, Fems for Dems. She’ll also hold a town hall. On Tuesday, Gillibrand heads to Iowa – which votes first in the presidential nominating calendar -- and later in the week makes a trip to Nevada, which is the first western state to vote.

Next Sunday, Gillibrand plans to give a speech outside the Trump International Hotel in New York City.

WHICH 2020 DEMOCRATS ARE STILL ON THE FENCE

With her declaration, Gillibrand becomes the 14th major Democrat to officially launch a presidential campaign. She joins fellow Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state, former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, former San Antonio mayor and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas have also declared their candidacies. So have Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, best-selling spiritual author Marianne Williamson of California and entrepreneur Andrew Yang of New York.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg has launched a presidential exploratory committee.

The  52-year-old Gillibrand, who served in the House before her current tenure in the Senate, is known for spearheading efforts in the fight against sexual harassment and assault, and has become a prominent voice in the #MeToo movement. In her video, she touted taking “on the Pentagon to end sexual assault in the military.”

But a sexual harassment issue in Gillibrand’s own Senate office is now making headlines, with the reporting that a female aide in her mid-20s who was working in Gillibrand’s office resigned in protest last summer as she criticized the office’s handling of her sexual harassment complaint against a senior male adviser to the senator. That male adviser was recently terminated.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Exclusive: Despite sanctions, Russian tanker supplied fuel to North Korean ship-crew members

Russian Tantal an oil/chemical tanker is berthed at the far eastern city of Vladivostok
The Russian vessel Tantal, an oil/chemical tanker, is berthed at the far eastern city of Vladivostok, Russia April 3, 2016. Picture taken April 3, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

February 26, 2019

By Polina Nikolskaya

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – A Russian tanker violated international trade sanctions by transferring fuel to a North Korean vessel at sea at least four times between October 2017 and May 2018, two crew members who witnessed the transfers said.

Such transactions could have helped provide North Korea with an economic lifeline and eased the isolation of the secretive communist state, whose leader, Kim Jong Un, is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam this week.

Primportbunker, the owner of the vessel the crew members said made the transfers, did not respond to requests for comment by telephone. No one answered the door when Reuters visited the building where Primportbunker has its headquarters in the port city of Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast.

On the four voyages between Oct. 13, 2017, and May 7, 2018, the Tantal tanker gave its destination as the Chinese port of Ningbo when it set sail, according to port documents seen by Reuters and tracking data from financial data company Refinitiv.

It then met up in international waters with a North Korean vessel to which it transferred its cargo of fuel, the two crew members who witnessed the transfers said.

The two crew said the fuel transfers took place when the Tantal’s transponder, which allows the vessel to be tracked at sea, was not operating. Shipping industry experts said this indicates the transponder was deliberately turned off or the Tantal had entered a zone not covered by ship-tracking radar.

On each occasion, the transponder started operating again when the Tantal was close to port in Russia, the two crew said.

They declined to give their names, citing fear of reprisals.

“We got officially registered for Ningbo and went to the 12-mile zone (marking the limits of Russian territorial waters),” one of the crew said, describing four journeys in which he was involved.

“We worked at night there with the North Korean tanker Chon Moyng-1,” he said.

Such transactions violate the international sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missiles program, which include a United Nations ban on nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum exports to Pyongyang.

Washington has accused Russia of “cheating” on sanctions and said it has evidence of “consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations”. In earlier denials that it has violated sanctions, Russia has said such accusations are not backed up by evidence.

THREE OTHER TRIPS

Russia’s foreign ministry and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions, did not respond to requests for comment about the Tantal. The independent U.N. panel of experts that monitors implementation of sanctions also did not respond.

Russia’s Far Eastern Customs Administration said it could not provide information about the Tantal’s voyages. The Seaport Administration of Russia’s Primorye region, which includes Vladivostok, said it had sought information from the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency in response to Reuters’ questions but the agency provided no information.

One of the crew members who said he was on board during the transfers said the ship that received the fuel flew the North Korean flag and saw it had the name Chon Myong-1 on its side.

The Chon Myong-1 was in March 2018 included on a U.N. list of vessels that have conducted so-called ship-to-ship transfers of fuel in violation of sanctions. 

Reuters’ was unable to obtain comment from North Korea and the owners of the Chon Myong-1.

The Tantal concealed its fuel transfers to North Korea by declaring when it returned to port that it had transferred the fuel at sea to a Chinese vessel, the two crew members said.

A third crew member said the Tantal had met up on these occasions with a vessel that was not North Korean – the China-registered Hui Tong 27 – and told port authorities on its return to port that it had transferred its cargo of fuel to this ship. But the Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed the Hui Tong 27 was not in the area at these times.

The Tantal also gave Ningbo as its destination on three other trips between October 2017 and May 2018, according to port documents and shipping data. The two crew members who spoke to Reuters did not cite any evidence that sanctions were violated on these three voyages.

In December 2017, Reuters quoted two senior Western European security sources as saying Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in the preceding months by transferring cargoes at sea. The security sources made no mention of the Tantal.

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

A court in Vladivostok introduced bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of the Russian tax service against Primportbunker on Sept. 18 last year, according to a publicly available court order. The first stage of bankruptcy proceedings is still under way — the company is now under temporary management which is assessing its ability to pay off creditors. If unable to pay, the company’s assets will be sold and it will be closed down, according to Russian law.

The two crew members who spoke to Reuters said they had not always been paid their wages on time.

Denis Vlasov, executive partner in law firm Vladpravo which represented Primportbunker, said Primportbunker had tried to resolve its financial problems including wage arrears, but that Vladpravo stopped working with the company about a year ago. He said he knew nothing about the Tantal’s declared trips to Ningbo.

Shipping brokers cited customs data as showing that on three of the seven trips from October 2017 to May 2018 the Tantal was carrying fuel from the Komsomolsky refinery in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s far east. The refinery, which is owned by state oil company Rosneft, did not respond to requests for comment. There was no suggestion Rosneft know of the alleged transfers at sea. Rosneft did not respond to requests for comment.

The data quoted the brokers for the same three trips showed the oil products were acquired from the refinery by a small Russian  trading firm, Mir Torgovli, based in Vladivostok. Mir Torgovli’s buyer was a Chinese firm in Shandong called Worldmax Trading Co. Ltd, according to the data cited by the brokers.

Mir Torgovli’s chief executive declined to comment. Reuters was unable to reach Worldmax Trading.

After completing the last of the seven voyages for which the destination was registered as China, the Tantal has not left Vladivostok port, according to the Refinitiv ship-tracking data. It sits at anchor offshore, shipping industry sources said.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow, Jonathan Saul in London, Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen in Beijing, Michelle Nichols in New York, Lesley Wroughton in Washington, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: OANN

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EU launches WTO cases against India, Turkey

FILE PHOTO: EU flags are seen outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags are seen outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

April 2, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union has launched two World Trade Organization disputes against India over import duties on IT products and against Turkey over measures affecting pharmaceutical producers.

The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 28-member European Union, said in a statement on Tuesday that the total value of affected EU exports was more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) per year.

In the case against India, the EU is challenging the introduction of import duties of between 7.5 and 20 percent for a wide range of IT products, such as mobile phones and components, as well as integrated circuits, the Commission said.

In the case against Turkey, the Commission said the bloc is challenging measures that force foreign pharmaceutical producers to move their production to Turkey.

The first step of WTO dispute settlement is a 60-day consultation period. The EU can request a WTO panel ruling on the cases if the consultations do not resolve the issues.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, editing by Gabriela Baczynska)

Source: OANN

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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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