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France threatens to reject May’s Brexit delay request

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May answers questions in the Parliament in London
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May answers questions in the Parliament in London, Britain, March 20, 2019 in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

March 20, 2019

By Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan and William James

LONDON (Reuters) – France threatened to reject British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request for a three-month delay to Brexit on Wednesday unless she can guarantee to get her departure plans though parliament, potentially sending Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.

May asked the European Union to allow Britain to extend Brexit to June 30 and EU leaders are expected to discuss the matter at a summit on Thursday. The decision must be taken unanimously by all remaining 27 EU members.

Some EU states, including Germany, had given a largely positive response to May’s well-flagged request.

But with the clock ticking toward Britain’s formal departure date on March 29, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said May would need to make her case before EU leaders in Brussels.

“Our position is to send the British a clear and simple message: as Theresa May said repeatedly herself, there are only two options to get out of the EU: ratify the Withdrawal Agreement or exit without a deal,” Le Drian told the French parliament.

“A situation in which Mrs May was not be able to present to the European Council sufficient guarantees of the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit,” he said.

May’s initiative came just nine days before Britain is formally due to leave the European Union and marked the latest twist in more than two years of negotiations that have left British politics in chaos and the prime minister’s authority in tatters.

After the defeats in parliament opened up the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal and a smooth transition, May said she remained committed to leaving “in an orderly manner” and wanted to postpone Brexit until June 30.

Her announcement prompted uproar in parliament, where the opposition Labour Party accused her of “blackmail, bullying and bribery” in her attempts to push her deal through, and one prominent pro-Brexit supporter in her own Conservative Party said seeking a delay was “betraying the British people”.

Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU by 52 to 48 percent, but the decision has split the country, opening up divisive debates over the future of the economy, the nation’s place in the world and the nature of Britishness itself.

A European Commission document seen by Reuters said the delay should either be several weeks shorter, to avoid a clash with European elections in May, or extend at least until the end of the year, which would oblige Britain to take part in the elections.

The pound fell sharply as May requested her extension.

(Additional reporting by by Kate Holton and Alistair Smout in London and Alastair MacDonald in Brussels; Writing by by Guy Faulconbridge and Giles Elgood; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: OANN

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German soccer club pays tribute to deceased neo-Nazi fan

Tributes at a soccer game to a self-professed neo-Nazi hooligan who died last week have led to a spate of departures from an eastern German club.

Chemnitzer FC showed a portrait of known hooligan Thomas Haller on a screen in the stadium before its lower-league match against VSG Altglienicke. The team's fans dressed in black and held flares aloft behind a banner with the words "Rest in peace, Tommy" in gothic script, while a display with a white cross on a black background was unfurled.

Fans also observed a sort of minute's silence and the stadium announcer gave a speech paying tribute to Haller's support for the club.

"Family, friends and companions are in deep mourning," the announcer said. "He lived for Chemnitzer FC."

The praise for Haller even ended up on the field when Chemnitz forward Daniel Frahn held up a black T-shirt bearing the motto "Support your local Hools" after scoring in the 4-4 draw.

"I didn't know this T-shirt was so widely used in the Nazi scene," said Frahn, who said it was sold to help raise money for Haller's medical treatment.

Haller, the founder of the club's "HooNaRa" (Hooligans-Nazis-Racists) fan group in the early 1990s, died of cancer last week. His company, Haller Security, provided security for the club until 2006.

In 2007, Chemnitz banned "HooNaRa" and the "NS-Boys" group, which used a Hitler Youth as its logo. The "Kaotic Chemnitz" group was banned in 2012 but members remain active.

Energie Cottbus supporters also paid tribute to Haller with a banner at their game against Preussen Muenster on Saturday.

Local broadcaster MDR reported that Haller was a prominent member of the far-right scene in Chemnitz and that he took part in the racially motivated riots in the city last August.

Chemnitz fan representative and local politician Peggy Schellenberger honored Haller on Facebook, writing: "We had our differences but there was also another human side. We were always fair, straight, apolitical and cordial with each other - that set you apart. Rest in peace!"

Schellenberger, a member of the center-left SPD party, has since deleted the post.

Chemnitz said on Sunday it did not sanction the tributes to Haller, but that it had given its fans "the opportunity to mourn together."

On Monday, the club said it was removing Schellenberger from her duties at the club, while Maximilian Gloes, who had been in charge of communications, was also dismissed. The club also said it will no longer employ Olaf Kadner as stadium announcer.

Chemnitz chairman Thomas Uhlig resigned from the club on Sunday.

"In order to keep further damage away from Chemnitzer FC, I have decided to step down from all positions with immediate effect," said Uhlig, who said he was responsible for what happened on match days.

Main sponsor Sparkasse is withdrawing its support at the end of the season, though it had already informed the club before Haller was honored.

"The events from Saturday confirm that this was the right decision," Sparkasse spokesman Sven Muecklich said.

German soccer federation vice president Rainer Koch said Monday that the association was distancing itself from the events in the Chemnitz and that he hoped the local league association would take "the right measures."

The North East Football Federation, known as NOFV, is likely to sanction both the club and Frahn for his mid-game tribute to Haller.

"There was at least one incident in the game that does not belong in a regional league game," NOFV managing director Holger Fuchs told Kicker magazine. "It's conceivable that the sports court of the NOFV will be charged with preliminary investigations with the possibility of a subsequent court proceeding."

The club has already filed criminal charges against "unknown individuals" with the Chemnitz public prosecutor and says it will give its "full support" to the investigations.

"It is known that well-known people from the far-right scene traveled to Chemnitz and Saxony from other cities on this day," the club said in a statement, adding it rejects "every form of right-wing radicalism."

___

More AP German soccer coverage: https://apnews.com/Bundesliga and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Source: Fox News World

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Irish backstop is temporary, May and Juncker say

EC President Juncker and British PM May meet in Brussels
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gestures as he meets with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

February 20, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The “backstop” provision in Britain’s EU divorce deal aimed at avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland is temporary, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May said after a meeting in Brussels.

“Their discussions covered which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underlines once again its temporary nature and give the appropriate legal assurance to both sides,” they said in a joint statement.

Juncker and May agreed to speak again before the end of February, the statement said.

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Julius Baer has Credit Suisse wealth manager Khan on list for CEO job: sources

FILE PHOTO - Khan, CEO International Wealth Management of Swiss bank Credit Suisse, speaks during Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Zurich
FILE PHOTO - Iqbal Khan, CEO International Wealth Management of Swiss bank Credit Suisse, speaks during "The Wealth Management Industry - Into the next decade" at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit, Park Hyatt hotel, Zurich Switzerland, June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

March 29, 2019

By Oliver Hirt and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss bank Julius Baer is considering Credit Suisse’s international wealth management head Iqbal Khan as a possible successor to its chief executive Bernhard Hodler, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Khan, who was hired by Chairman Urs Rohner in 2013 and promoted to lead the newly created International Wealth Management business in 2015, had also been tipped as a potential future chief executive of Credit Suisse.

Although Hodler has been Julius Baer CEO for less than one-and-a-half years, Baer’s board is already assessing potential successors, the sources said.

Julius Baer has axed jobs and cut growth targets this year after it was hit by challenging markets in 2018, and its shares are down 28 percent since Hodler took over.

Switzerland’s third-largest listed bank declined to comment on whether it or its new chairman are seeking to replace Hodler, while Credit Suisse declined to comment on the situation.

Hodler was chief risk officer at Zurich-based Julius Baer before the departure of his predecessor Boris Collardi, who also rose through the ranks of Credit Suisse, to unlisted Pictet.

Since taking the top job, Hodler has been trying to overhaul Julius Baer’s compliance practices following several inquiries related to bribery and corruption probes involving its clients.

In Khan, Julius Baer would gain a high-profile private banker in his early forties who has helped bring in a new generation of young, entrepreneurial clients for Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse’s private banking operations outside of Switzerland and Asia Pacific have cut costs and layers of middle management, boosting profits and inflows under Khan, while the bank was undergoing a major restructuring.

If Khan were to leave, there are a handful of Credit Suisse executives who would be in the running to replace him.

These include Benjamin Cavalli, head of private banking in South Asia, Yves Sommerhalder, co-head of the bank’s International Trading Solutions, Serge Fehr, head of private banking and wealth management in the Swiss division, Eric Varvel, head of Asset Management in IWM, and Felix Baumgartner, head of premium clients in Switzerland, one source said.

Swiss Universal Bank head Thomas Gottstein and Investment Banking & Capital Markets boss Jim Amine would also be in the mix, the source added.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Oliver Hirt; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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French group Thales completes 4.8 billion euro takeover of Gemalto

The logo of French defence and electronics group Thales is seen at the company's headquarters in Merignac near Bordeaux
The logo of French defence and electronics group Thales is seen at the company's headquarters in Merignac near Bordeaux, France, March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

April 2, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – French aerospace and defense electronics group Thales said it had completed its previously announced 4.8 billion euros ($5.4 billion) takeover of chipmaker Gemalto, boosting Thales’ presence in the booming security services market.

Thales had to clear various regulatory hurdles before finally completing the deal, and the company reiterated that buying Gemalto would increase its overall revenues and lift its presence in Latin America, north America and Asia.

“Together, we are creating a giant in digital identity and security with the capabilities to compete in the big leagues worldwide,” said Thales Chairman and Chief Executive Patrice Caine in a statement on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Jean-Michel Belot; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

Source: OANN

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Florida may send a big message to sanctuary cities

MIAMI — Florida has one of the largest illegal immigrant populations in the country and its new governor wants to make sure they don't have protection from local authorities.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing for a ban on sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Several bills making their way through the state legislature would effectively make it against the law for police departments to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials. If a law enforcement official refuses, they could be fined or fired.

“This problem that we have right now, is a problem that has been festering in the United States because it has not been solved by the federal government for the past 40 years,” said Florida Republican Rep. Blaise Ingoglia. “Quite frankly, you know since the last mass amnesty, if you will, in 1986 under Ronald Reagan, we were always promised that we would have some sort of... legal immigration reform and it never came.”

Lawmakers are grappling with fixing what they call America’s broken immigration system

Lawmakers are grappling with fixing what they call America’s broken immigration system

It's all an effort by the Republican-led state lawmakers, buoyed by DeSantis, to toughen the rules on illegal immigration. The sanctuary city ban, which passed the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee, will be voted on by both chambers before May 3.

Florida is home to 775,000 illegal immigrants out of 10.7 million present in the United States, ranking the state third among all states.

Latest estimates show Florida’s illegal immigrant population at 775,000

Latest estimates show Florida’s illegal immigrant population at 775,000 (Elina Shirazi/Fox News)

Nine states have enacted state laws requiring law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

Groups who oppose the anti-sanctuary city bill targeting these illegal immigrants say it's unnecessary because the state doesn't even have sanctuary cities.

Groups who oppose the bill dispute that Florida has sanctuary cities

Groups who oppose the bill dispute that Florida has sanctuary cities

“Anyone who says that there is a sanctuary city in the state of Florida, especially if they're a policymaker, that would be very concerning to me because it simply does not exist,” said Melissa Taveras, spokesperson for the Florida Immigrant Coalition.

Republican lawmakers don’t agree. They call a handful of cities — including Orlando and West Palm Beach — “pseudo-sanctuary” cities, because they prevent law enforcement officials from asking about immigration status when they make arrests. The City of Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina also criticized the bill, going so far as saying he might quit if he had to check someone’s legal status before helping them.

“There are still people here in the state of Florida, police chiefs that are just refusing to contact ICE, refusing to detain somebody that they know is here illegally. So while the actual county municipality doesn't have an actual adopted policy, they still have people in power within their sheriff's department or police department that refuse to do it anyway,” said Ingoglia.

Critics also say the bill would make municipalities lose their autonomy.

“This set of bills reverses some of these traditional principles and says federal government should have primacy over state and local governments and that state and local governments need to cooperate with the federal government even if they disagree,” Touchton said.

Some lawmakers claim the bill is pro-law-enforcement. Those against the bill disagree.

“Federal immigration agents should be doing the work of federal immigration agents. Local police should be tasked with securing public safety,” said Taveras.

The Miami-Dade Police Department said it considered the issue a federal matter, not a local one.

“We remind the community that the enforcement of immigration laws is the responsibility of the federal government and those specific federal agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which are delegated such authority,” the department said in a statement to Fox News.

The Miami-Dade police department gave a statement to Fox News in response to the anti-sanctuary city bill

The Miami-Dade police department gave a statement to Fox News in response to the anti-sanctuary city bill

Taveras said the bills will cause people to be afraid of reporting crimes, causing public safety issues.

“The fear with passage of a bill that requires cooperation with ICE is that many community members will feel absolutely desperate when they finally come into contact with law enforcement, and they'll be fearful to integrate into the community or to report crimes to call for help to testify as a witness, and that the intention of making the state more law abiding with regard to undocumented immigrants, will make it more lawless as large portions of communities hide themselves.

Regardless of how people feel about the bills, both sides said there is a need to fix a broken system.

“I think the message that we could send to the nation is that we really require comprehensive immigration reform be what we're seeing happening at the state level is really not going to help frankly from our immigrant communities and it's happening to help the public at large. You really need comprehensive immigration reform at this point,” said Taveras.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Macron, Merkel to hold talks on Brexit and other EU issues

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss Brexit, relations with the United States and other European issues.

Wednesday's meeting comes one day after British Prime Minister Theresa May said Parliament would get the chance to vote to delay Britain's scheduled March 29 departure from the European Union. Such a delay would require other EU members' approval.

Merkel and Macron will also evoke the French-German defense partnership, according to the French president's office.

The leaders in January signed a pact renewing their countries' decades-long friendship. They pledged to increase cooperation in the areas of foreign and defense policy, fighting crime and terrorism, international development and research.

Source: Fox News World

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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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