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Dollar hits three-week high vs yen on trade optimism; U.S. jobs report in focus

FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollars and other world currencies lie in a charity receptacle at Pearson international airport in Toronto
FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollars and other world currencies lie in a charity receptacle at Pearson international airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 13, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

April 5, 2019

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar rose to a three-week high versus the yen on Friday, lifted by expectations that a protracted trade dispute between the United States and China would be resolved soon.

The greenback has gained about 0.85 percent against its safe-haven Japanese peer this week, thanks also to factors such as strong U.S. economic data and broad improvement in risk appetite.

The trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has been a major distraction for financial markets over the past year, with riskier assets in particular taking a hit on worries about the broadening business and growth impact of the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday both countries were getting very close to a trade deal that could be announced within four weeks.

On the economic front, investors will have an opportunity to gauge the health of the world’s largest economy when the March U.S. jobs report is released at 1230 GMT.

“In particular focus is how strong the earnings component of the jobs report turns out to be. A strong wages outcome would underline robust private consumption and hasten the rebound in Treasury yields and in turn allow dollar/yen to test fresh highs,” said Junichi Ishikawa, senior FX strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.

The dollar extended overnight gains and rose to 111.80 yen, its highest since March 15.

The euro was steady at $1.1223, capped firmly after data released on Thursday showed German industrial order dropped in February.

The pound was nearly flat at $1.3074 after shedding 0.7 percent overnight.

Sterling slipped on Thursday, snapping a three-day rising streak, as concerns rose that Britain may be headed for a protracted Brexit delay. [GBP/]

Britain could ask the European Union for a long Brexit delay next week if crisis talks between Prime Minister Theresa May’s government and the opposition Labour Party fail to find a way out of the impasse over the divorce from the European Union.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was unchanged at 97.300 after rising 0.2 percent the previous day.

The Australian dollar was a touch higher at $0.7120.

The currency has risen about 0.3 percent this week, supported as signs of progress in the U.S.-China trade dispute lifted risk assets and commodity prices.

(Reporting by Shinchi Saoshiro; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Brazen thieves targeting Mississippi police department swipe cruiser tires – twice

Brazen tire thieves have targeted the police department in Mississippi's capital city in recent weeks, stealing the wheels from patrol cars -- including one parked at the city's police academy.

Three police cruisers that were parked behind a police museum in downtown Jackson were vandalized over the weekend when a thief stole all twelve wheels.

A photo shared on social media showed the three vehicles being towed away Saturday.

CONNECTICUT POLICE OFFICER DRAGGED NEARLY A MILE BY VEHICLE DURING TRAFFIC STOP IN HARROWING BODYCAM VIDEO

Jackson police spokesman Sgt. Roderick Holmes confirmed to local media Monday the vehicles were towed after they were discovered without their tires. He said police are investigating the crime and they are not sure when the wheels were stolen.

Holmes did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment early Tuesday.

This is the second time thieves have targeted the Jackson police department’s vehicles.

In March the wheels were taken from a patrol car parked at the Jackson Police Training Academy. The vehicle was left on blocks after the thieves stole tires and rims.

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No arrests have been made.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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North Carolina man gets life for triple murder of neighbors

A North Carolina man has been sentenced to life in prison for the triple murder of his neighbors who had accused him of child molestation.

News outlets report Jonathan Sander was sentenced Monday for the 2016 deaths of Sal Mazzella's wife, adult son and daughter-in-law.

Before the sentence was handed down, Mazzella said he has forgiven Sander. Sander sarcastically applauded that announcement and launched into a nearly 30-minute rant that blamed and insulted other people.

He began to threaten jurors and was cut off by Judge Graham Shirley, who said Sander would die in obscurity despite his crimes.

Sander was friends with Mazzella's son Sandy, and the family accused him of child molestation in 2016. Evidence says he burst into their home with a shotgun while screaming, "Child molester? Really, Sandy?"

Source: Fox News National

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Chiefs acquire Seahawks’ Clark, agree on $105 million deal: reports

FILE PHOTO: NFL: NFC Wild Card-Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys
FILE PHOTO: Jan 5, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark (55) warms up before a NFC Wild Card playoff football game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

April 23, 2019

The Seattle Seahawks agreed to trade franchise-tagged defensive end Frank Clark to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 2019 first-round pick, a 2020 second-round pick and a swap of 2019 third-round picks, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.

Clark, who must pass a physical for the trade to become official, has also agreed in principle with the Chiefs on a five-year, $105.5 million contract with $63.5 million guaranteed, according to multiple reports.

The Seahawks tagged Clark earlier this offseason, and both sides expressed a desire to keep him in Seattle long-term, but multiple outlets reported over the weekend that he could be dealt before the draft was set to begin Thursday.

Seattle now has two first-round picks — its own at No. 21 and the Chiefs’ at No. 29.

“They had other plans,” Clark told ESPN of the Seahawks’ position. “It got to a point where Seattle had used me for everything I had for them already. At the end of the day it’s a business.

.”.. It just sucks that we weren’t able to get something done, because they knew how I felt about being in Seattle and how I felt about my future, and I feel like at the end of the day it was all ignored. But it is part of the business.”

Clark added, “I wanted to be somewhere where I’m wanted, where I’m appreciated.”

He also told ESPN it was understood that any trade would require the acquiring team to sign him to an extension topping the one Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (five years, $105 million, $65 million guaranteed), signed earlier this month. Clark’s annual average now trails only Chicago’s Khalil Mack ($23.5 million) among defensive ends.

Clark, who turns 26 in June, was set to make $17.1 million on the franchise tag in 2019. He posted career highs of 13 sacks and 27 quarterback hits last season while starting all 16 games for the first time in his career.

The Chiefs traded their own franchise-tagged edge rusher, Dee Ford, to the San Francisco 49ers earlier this offseason, receiving a 2020 second-round pick in return. Ford, deemed an imperfect fit as Kansas City switches from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 under new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, signed a five-year, $85.5 million extension with the 49ers after the trade.

Kansas City also released long-time edge rusher Justin Houston this offseason, before signing former New Orleans Saints defensive end Alex Okafor in free agency and trading for Cleveland Browns defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah.

Clark has 35 sacks and 72 QB hits through 62 games (33 starts) over four seasons since being drafted in the second round by Seattle in 2015.

Once considered a top prospect, he slipped to the second round after being dismissed by the Michigan football team following his 2014 arrest on misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and assault. Clark later pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace.

The Chiefs have dealt with multiple players with incidents of domestic violence recently.

They drafted receiver Tyreek Hill in the fifth round in 2016, a year and a half after he was dismissed from Oklahoma State following his pleading guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation of his then-pregnant girlfriend. Overland Park (Kan.) Police are currently investigating two March incidents, one for child abuse and neglect and one for battery, involving a juvenile at Hill’s home.

In November, the Chiefs released Pro Bowl running back Kareem Hunt after video surfaced of him shoving and kicking a woman in a Cleveland hotel during a January 2018 incident.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Ethiopian plane smoked and shuddered before deadly plunge

Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu
Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

March 11, 2019

By Duncan Miriri

GARA-BOKKA, Ethiopia (Reuters) – The Ethiopian Airways plane that crashed killing 157 people was making a strange rattling noise and trailed smoke and debris as it swerved above a field of panicked cows before hitting earth, according to witnesses.

Flight 302 took off from the Ethiopian capital on Sunday morning bound for Nairobi with passengers from more than 30 countries. All on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 died.

The pilot had requested permission to return, saying he was having problems – but it was too late.

(graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2CdCVUi)

Half a dozen witnesses interviewed by Reuters in the farmland where the plane came down reported smoke billowing out behind, while four of them also described a loud sound.

“It was a loud rattling sound. Like straining and shaking metal,” said Turn Buzuna, a 26-year-old housewife and farmer who lives about 300 meters (328 yards) from the crash site.

“Everyone says they have never heard that kind of sound from a plane and they are under a flight path,” she added.

Malka Galato, 47, a barley and wheat farmer whose field the plane crashed in, also described smoke and sparks from the back. “The plane was very close to the ground and it made a turn… Cows that were grazing in the fields ran in panic,” he said.

Tamirat Abera, 25, was walking past the field at the time. He said the plane turned sharply, trailing white smoke and items like clothes and papers, then crashed about 300 meters away.

“It tried to climb but it failed and went down nose first,” he said. “There was fire and white smoke which then turned black.”

CHILDREN’S BOOKS, PERFUME AT CRASH

As the plane had only just taken off, it was loaded with fuel.

At the site, Red Cross workers in masks sifted gently through victims’ belongings. Children’s books – Dr Seuss’s “Oh The Thinks You Can Think” and “Anne of Green Gables” – lay near a French-English dictionary burnt along one edge.

A woman’s brown handbag, the bottom burnt, lay open next to an empty bottle of perfume.

The aircraft was broken into small pieces, the largest among them a wheel and a dented engine. The debris was spread over land roughly the size of two soccer fields.

“When it was hovering, fire was following its tail, then it tried to lift its nose,” said another witness, Gadisa Benti. “When it passed over our house, the nose pointed down and the tail raised up. It went straight to the ground with its nose, it then exploded.”

Local resident Nigusu Tesema helped gather victims’ scattered identity papers to hand to police.

“We are shocked and saddened,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Kumerra Gemechu and Tiksa Negeri; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: OANN

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Georgia elementary school celebrates janitor’s 80th birthday

A Georgia elementary school reportedly surrounded their janitor with cards, songs and even some hugs in honor of his 80th birthday last week.

The celebration for Haze Mabry was organized at Pike County Elementary School and the joyous occasion was caught on video, Fox 35 reported.

The clip was posted on Facebook by the school’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and showed the halls lined with people as they sang “Happy Birthday.”

MICHIGAN BOY, 12, FED UP WITH POTHOLES, DECIDES TO FIX THEM HIMSELF

The man of the hour soon emerged on the clip to cheers and applause and was greeted by students as he walked through the school.

Mabry – an Army veteran – got lots of cards at the event, which was attended by nearly 800 students, The Washington Post reported. He told the outlet about one in particular, in which someone wrote “Mr. Haze, you are my sunshine.”

Apparently, the feeling is mutual, with Mabry telling The Post that he feels “the same way about them.”

The school’s PTO also shared photos from the party on Facebook, including some of Mabry sporting an “80 Years Loved” t-shirt.

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“This man works hard all day until 5:30pm and he does it with a smile on his face! He makes time to speak to every child and staff member he passes,” the post said. “Mr. Haze makes everyone feel important, special, and loved.”

“It may be his birthday, but we are the ones who receive a gift,” it continued. “The gift of having him in our school, lives, and hearts. This is the good stuff! Mr. Haze, you sir are loved, admired, and adored here at PCES. Happy 80th Birthday! We wish you the best today and always! #EightyYearsLoved”

Source: Fox News National

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Asian shares steady ahead of Fed meeting; May’s Brexit deal in chaos

FILE PHOTO: Men look at stock quotation boards outside a brokerage in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: Men look at stock quotation boards outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato

March 19, 2019

By Tomo Uetake

Asian shares treaded water on Tuesday ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting, hovering near six-month highs, while sterling was choppy as the speaker of Britain’s parliament banned another vote on same Brexit deal.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was virtually flat, just a hair away from the highest level since Sept. 21.

Japan’s Nikkei average dropped 0.5 percent, while Australian stocks eased 0.1 percent.

All three major U.S. indexes rose overnight, lifted by banks and tech names, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite adding between 0.3 and 0.4 percent each. [.N]

“Speculators appear to be betting on rise in stock prices on the back of a dovish Fed. The Fed is unlikely to kill such hopes. Yet there is a risk the Fed could tone down its dovishness,” said Masanari Takada, cross-asset strategist at Nomura Securities.

With signs of global economic growth slowing, traders were focused on the Federal Reserve, which is kicking off its two-day policy meeting on later in the day, for clues about the likely path of U.S. borrowing costs.

In particular, investors will be focusing on whether policymakers have sufficiently lowered their interest rate forecasts to more closely align their “dot plot”, a diagram showing individual policymakers’ rate views for the next three years.

Also expected is more detail on a plan to stop cutting the Fed’s holdings of nearly $3.8 trillion in bonds.

“A key focus is when the Fed will omit the word ‘patient’ from its statement, as that would be a pre-requisite for a rate hike,” said Toru Yamamoto, chief fixed income strategist at Daiwa Securities.

In the currency market, the pound found firmer footing on Tuesday after slipping to as low as $1.3183 overnight as lawmakers cast doubt on Prime Minister Theresa May’s third attempt to get parliament to back her Brexit deal. [GBP/]

May’s Brexit plans were thrown into further turmoil on Monday when the speaker of parliament ruled that she could not put her divorce deal to a new vote unless it was re-submitted in fundamentally different form.

May has only two days to win approval for her deal to leave the European Union if she wants to go to a summit with the bloc’s leaders on Thursday with something to offer them in return for more time.

Meanwhile, senior diplomats said the European Union leaders could hold off making any final decision on any Brexit delay when they meet in Brussels later this week, depending on what exactly May asks them for.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies barely moved and was at 96.498.

The Japanese yen edged up 0.1 percent to 111.27 yen to the dollar, while the euro was almost flat at $1.1334.

Oil prices rose to near four-month highs on Monday, supported by the prospect of extended OPEC-led oil supply curbs and signs of inventory declines in U.S. crude stockpiles. [O/R]

Early on Tuesday, U.S. crude futures slipped 0.2 percent to $58.99 a barrel.

(Reporting by Tomo Uetake; Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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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