Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

MGM Resorts announces 254 layoffs, says more job cuts coming

Las Vegas-based casino company MGM Resorts International has announced a first phase of layoffs in a cost-cutting operational shift as it aims to boost earnings.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the 254 layoffs announced Thursday will cut labor costs by $100 million.

In a letter to employees, CEO Jim Murren calls it streamlining and says more positions will be eliminated in coming weeks.

MGM Resorts in January announced its MGM 2020 plan to boost earnings by $200 million by next year.

It says the current cuts affect managers, not union workers.

The company has about 77,000 employees and is the largest employer in Nevada.

It's under investor pressure to improve earnings after share prices have fallen 12 percent since August.

MGM shares closed Thursday at $27.75, down 14 cents.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Dear Mexico Stop Risking Your Child’s Well-being For An American Illusion

Immigration is a tough topic that takes, compassion, precision, and honesty. With that being said it is time to shift the perception that liberals are trying to save immigrant children from “evil republicans” who want to throw them in cages and holocaust 2.0 the world. (Sarcasm) The reality is,  U.S Border control is reporting that […]

0 0

Trump fails to end ‘Apprentice’ contestant’s defamation lawsuit

Summer Zervos listens as her attorney Gloria Allred speaks during a news conference announcing the filing of a lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump in Los Angeles
Summer Zervos listens as her attorney Gloria Allred speaks during a news conference announcing the filing of a lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake

March 14, 2019

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York state appeals court rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on his television show “The Apprentice,” or delay it until after he leaves the White House.

In a 3-2 decision on Thursday, the Appellate Division in Manhattan said the U.S. Constitution did not strip state courts of power to decide cases arising under state constitutions, even if they involved sitting presidents.

Despite suggesting he embodies the executive branch and has significant responsibilities, “the President is still a person, and he is not above the law,” Justice Dianne Renwick wrote.

The dissenting judges said the lawsuit would interfere with Trump’s job as president, and should wait until he left office.

Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz said Trump will appeal to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, “which we expect will agree with the dissent.”

The decision affirmed a lower court ruling from last March.

Zervos’ lawyers are hoping to question Trump under oath about whether he defamed her by calling her a liar after she accused him of sexual misconduct.

“We look forward to proving to a jury that Ms. Zervos told the truth about defendant’s unwanted sexual groping and holding him accountable for his malicious lies,” Zervos’ lawyer Mariann Wang said.

Trump has denied Zervos’ claims and called her case politically motivated. Several other women have also accused Trump of improper sexual conduct.

Zervos, an “Apprentice” contestant in 2005, accused Trump of kissing her against her will at a 2007 meeting in New York, and later groping her at a Beverly Hills hotel.

She came forward in October 2016, the month before Trump was elected, after an “Access Hollywood” recording showed Trump speaking in vulgar terms about women. Trump also republished on Twitter a post calling Zervos’ accusations a “hoax.”

The appeals court called Zervos’ case “materially indistinguishable” from former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones’s lawsuit accusing then-President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court let Jones’ case go forward. That paved the way for Clinton’s impeachment the following year.

Justice Angela Mazzarelli, one of Thursday’s dissenters, said the “all-consuming nature of the Presidency creates a constitutional barrier” against Zervos’ lawsuit.

All five justices found Zervos’ defamation claim legally sufficient, without ruling on its merits.

Trump also faced a defamation claim by adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit over a hush money agreement. That lawsuit was dismissed on March 7.

The case is Zervos v Trump, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, No. 7610.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

Source: OANN

0 0

DOJ watchdog reportedly scrutinizing role of FBI informant in Russia probe

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog reportedly is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who contacted members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, as part of a broader review of the early stages of the Russia investigation.

The New York Times reported that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is looking into informant Stefan Halper’s work during the Russia probe, as well as his work with the FBI prior to the start of that probe.

BARR REVEALS HE IS REVIEWING 'CONDUCT' OF FBI'S ORIGINAL RUSSIA PROBE

Halper, an American professor who reportedly is deeply connected with British and American intelligence agencies, has been widely reported as a confidential source for the FBI during the bureau’s original investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. That official counterintelligence operation was opened by then-senior agent Peter Strzok, who has since been fired from the bureau.

During the 2016 campaign, Halper contacted several members of the Trump campaign, including former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and former aide Carter Page. Page also was the subject of several Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants during the campaign -- which is an issue at the heart of the IG's investigation. Republicans, including President Trump, have alleged misconduct in the bureau and Justice Department’s handling of those FISA warrants.

"It was an illegal investigation. ... Everything about it was crooked," Trump told reporters on Wednesday, describing it as an attempted "coup" and reiterating his interest in digging into the probe's origins. "There is a hunger for that to happen."

Professor Stefan Halper

Professor Stefan Halper (Voice of America, File)

The Times, in its report, noted that Halper also contacted former Trump campaign aide Sam Clovis. It is unclear whether Halper had the FBI’s permission to contact Clovis, according to the report.

Horowitz, more broadly, is probing alleged wrongdoing related to the issuance of FISA warrants to surveil Page during the election. During a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr testified that Horowitz’s investigation is expected to be complete by May or June.

While vowing to release Special Counsel Robert Mueller's now-completed Russia report in a matter of days, Barr also announced Tuesday that he was reviewing the origins of the Russia investigation at the FBI and the Justice Department, amid mounting calls for scrutiny of the probe's beginnings from Trump and prominent congressional Republicans.

“More generally, I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all of the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted in the summer of 2016,” Barr told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

BARR ASSEMBLES 'TEAM' TO LOOK INTO COUNTERINTELLIGENCE INVESTIGATION ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN IN 2016, OFFICIAL SAYS

Also on Tuesday, Fox News reported that Barr had assembled a “team” to investigate the origins of the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.

The FBI’s 2016 counterintelligence investigation, formally opened by Strzok, began with a “paucity” of evidence, according to former FBI counsel Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was romantically involved. During a closed-door congressional interview, Page admitted that the FBI “knew so little” about whether allegations against the Trump campaign were “true or not true” at the time they opened the probe, adding that they had just “a paucity of evidence because we [were] just starting down the path” of vetting allegations.

Page also said in her interview that it was “entirely common” that the FBI would begin an investigation with just a “small amount of evidence.”

Barr’s team will also review the FISA warrants issued against Carter Page. The issuance of the FISA warrants relied, in part, on the unverified anti-Trump dossier authored by ex-British Intelligence Agent Christopher Steele, who worked on behalf of Fusion GPS—a firm paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through law firm Perkins Coie to do opposition research against the Trump campaign. In the dossier, Steele accused Page of conspiring with Russians. Page was not charged with any wrongdoing in either the FBI’s Russia probe or Mueller’s.

Fox News exclusively obtained internal FBI text messages last month showing that just nine days before the FBI applied for the Page FISA warrant, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible bias" of a source pivotal to the application.

Barr’s review could also dovetail with the work U.S. Attorney John Huber has been doing. In 2017, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Huber to review not only alleged surveillance abuses by the Justice Department and the FBI but also the handling of the probe into the Clinton Foundation and other matters.

The day following Barr’s release of his summary of the Mueller report, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said his panel also would investigate alleged FISA abuses at the start of the Russia investigation and called on Barr to appoint a new special counsel to investigate “the other side of the story.” Graham has been calling for a second special counsel since 2017 to investigate “whether or not a counterintelligence investigation was opened as a back door to spy on the Trump campaign.”

Also, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said over the weekend he was preparing to send eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department this week regarding alleged misconduct by DOJ and FBI officials during the Trump-Russia investigation. It is unclear whom Nunes will refer for investigation, and what the process at the Justice Department might be.

When asked Tuesday about Nunes’ referrals, Barr said he hasn’t seen them yet, but, “Obviously, if there is a predicate for investigation, it will be conducted.”

Fox News’ Gregg Re and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Sen. Graham: Wall More Critical Than Construction of Middle School

Sen. Graham: Wall More Critical Than Construction of Middle School

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday pitched President Donald Trump’s border wall as more critical than the construction of a Kentucky middle school.

"It's better for the middle school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border,” Graham said during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” after host Margaret Brennan pointed out that about $3.6 billion in government funds, including money for the construction of a middle school in Kentucky, would be used to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border following President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency.

“We'll get them the school they need,” he added. “But right now, we've got a national emergency on our hands. Opioid addiction is going through the roof in this country. Thousands of Americans died last year and dying this year because we can't control the flow of drugs into this country and all of his coming across the border. …”

Trump on Friday declared that the "current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency” after Congress allocated just $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fences along the border in Texas in the new spending bill.

Trump had sought $5.7 billion for 234 miles of steel walls.

Source: NewsMax Politics

0 0

Swedish TV says Swedbank linked to Baltic money laundering scandal

Swedbank logo is pictured on its branch in Riga
The Swedbank logo is pictured on its branch in Riga October 21, 2014. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

February 20, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish television (SVT) said on Wednesday it had uncovered documents linking Swedbank to a money laundering scandal involving Denmark’s Danske Bank.

At least 40 billion Swedish crowns ($4.30 billion) had been transferred between accounts at Swedbank and Danske in the Baltics between 2007 and 2015, SVT’s Uppdrag Granskning investigative program reported.

The program said that transactions by 50 clients should have raised red flags at Swedbank as they were companies with no visible operations, had unknown beneficial owners or were represented by so-called “goalkeepers” – people who only provide a front for an organization.

“The investigation covers more than 1,000 of Swedbank’s clients in high-risk countries who are known from the money laundering scandal in Danske Bank,” SVT said on its website.

In a statement, Swedbank spokesman Gabriel Francke Rodau said that fighting money laundering was one of Swedbank’s top priorities.

“We are comfortable with the systems and processes we have to prevent and avert money laundering. When we get signals, we act,” he said.

Swedbank said it could not comment on all the details in the program as a result of bank secrecy laws.

Danske is under investigation in Denmark, Estonia, Britain and the United States over some 200 billion euros ($226 billion) in payments from Russia, ex-Soviet states and elsewhere that were found to have flowed through its Estonian arm.

(Reporting by Stockholm Newsroom; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

0 0

The Latest: Police look for motive in North Dakota deaths

The Latest on bodies found at a business in the Bismarck, North Dakota, suburb of Mandan (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

Police in North Dakota say they're searching for a motive for the killings of four people at a property management company in Mandan.

Chief Jason Ziegler says a suspect remains at large but emphasized there is no danger to the public based on evidence recovered at the crime scene.

Police found the bodies of three men and one woman Monday morning when they responded to a medical call at the building. The company, RJR Maintenance and Management, is in a business district about 100 yards back from a busy main road in Mandan known as the Strip.

Police have not said how the victims were killed and they've yet to release their names. Their families have not been notified.

___

5:20 p.m.

North Dakota authorities say four people were found dead inside a property management company in Mandan and police are looking for a suspect.

Mandan police say they have not yet identified the deceased but the victims were three men and one woman. Authorities are not saying how they were killed.

The company, RJR Maintenance and Management, is in a business district about 100 yards back from a busy main road in Mandan known as the Strip. Mandan is a town of about 22,000 adjoining the state capital of Bismarck.

___

5:10 p.m.

North Dakota authorities say four people were found dead inside a property management company in Mandan and police are looking for a suspect.

Mandan police say they have not yet identified the deceased but the victims were three males and one female. Authorities are not saying how they were killed.

The company, RJR Maintenance and Management, is in a business district about 100 yards back from a busy main road in Mandan known as the Strip. Mandan is a town of about 22,000 adjoining the state capital of Bismarck.

___

11:45 a.m.

Police investigating "several" bodies found at a North Dakota business are checking nearby surveillance video.

Police in Mandan say the bodies were found Monday morning after they responded to a medical call at a business. They released no other details.

Authorities were gathered outside RJR Maintenance and Management, a property management company.

The company is in a business district about 100 yards back from a busy main road in Mandan known as the Strip. Mandan is a town of about 22,000 adjoining the state capital of Bismarck.

Darin Helbling, a manager at a nearby bowling alley, says police asked to see his business' surveillance video. Helbling says it showed only a couple of vehicles on the road that separates the businesses since 10 p.m. Sunday.

___

10:40 a.m.

Police in North Dakota say "several" bodies have been found inside a business in suburban Bismarck.

Officers responded to a medical call at the business Monday morning and found several people dead inside. The Mandan Police Department did not say how many and did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

Morton County referred a request for comment to city police. The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation confirms that it's helping with the investigation. It hasn't offered any details.

Source: Fox News National

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist