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Massive 4-day fire at Texas petrochemicals facility finally extinguished

Emergency crews in Texas on Wednesday finally extinguished a massive fire that had engulfed a petrochemicals facility for four days.

Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) spokeswoman Alice Richardson said at a news conference that investigators could now begin their probe into what the triggered the massive blaze at the facility in Deer Park, an area just southeast of Houston.

The fire was extinguished Wednesday at 3 a.m. after it had sent a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet into the air when it first began on Sunday.

‘OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE’ MAN KILLED WIFE, 3 KIDS, BEFORE SETTING FIRE TO HOME, AUTHORITIES SAY

The fire briefly flared up late Wednesday afternoon but was contained within 30 seconds by firefighters, the city of Deer Park said in a tweet.

Efforts have now shifted to concerns over air quality and the environmental impact.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted air-quality tests throughout the Houston area, both on the ground and from a small airplane, and "measured no levels of hazardous concentrations," agency official Adam Adams said.

VIETNAM VETERAN WHO SURVIVED BEING SHOT SEVEN TIMES DIES IN HOUSE FIRE

The EPA also reviewed data collected by ITC, Harris County, where Houston is located, and by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEP), which did not show hazardous concentrations of volatile organic compounds, Adams said.

The state environmental agency said in a statement Wednesday that the benzene levels it found near and around the storage facility did not pose health concerns.

Still, some people living in the area have complained of various symptoms since the fire, including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds.

Sema Hernandez, who lives in Pasadena, just west of Deer Park, said all four of her children have experienced headaches since the fire started Sunday. However, she has not been able to take them to a doctor because she doesn't have health insurance.

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"This shouldn't have happened. ... But it did. My question is, what do we do now?" Hernandez said.

The EPA and the TCEQ said they were waiting for test results of water samples to determine any potential impacts from the foam used to fight the fire on waterways next to the storage facility, including the Houston Ship Channel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Canadian grandmother, 73, helps fight fires as a volunteer at local fire station

A Canadian grandmother is still feeling the burn and loving it -- at the age of 73.

Lester McInally, from Canada’s British Columbia province, is squashing stereotypes as a volunteer for the White Lake Fire Department, proving she can take the heat at any age.

McInally told CBC News she’s been volunteering for the fire station in Shuswap since she and her husband moved to the town in 2001.

"We decided that we'd better join the fire department because they were giving us the protection that we needed," McInally told CBC’s “Daybreak South.”

Lester McInally takes on a support role during fire operations.

Lester McInally takes on a support role during fire operations. (White Lake Fire Department)

"It's part of my life," McInally said. "I've been with them probably longer than I had any other office job."

SISTER MARY JO SOBIECK, NUN WHOSE PERFECT FIRST PITCH WENT VIRAL, GETS HER OWN BASEBALL CARD

McInally’s role doesn't require her to rush into burning buildings. The grandmother acts as support to ensure all fire operations are safe and smooth. She's taken on various roles in the 17 years she’s been a volunteer.

"If we have a call out, I'd be the staging officer," she said. "It's basically keeping track of all the members that are there and then in the evening or after the incident, I make sure that all of them are accounted for and that they're all going home safe to their families."

Lester McInally said she plans on volunteering for as long as possible.

Lester McInally said she plans on volunteering for as long as possible. (White Lake Fire Department)

McInally also said in a post on Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s website: “I've never been the one to pick up a hose…when that pager goes off, I'm down at the hall. I'm there because I know I'm needed."

Her husband retired from volunteering a few years ago, but McInally is still going strong despite being 73 years old.

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"[I want to keep volunteering] as long as I can, as long as I'm still useful to the department and to all the members," she told CBC News. "We are in recruiting mode at the moment and, face it, any rural fire department always needs volunteers.”

Source: Fox News World

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‘Mayor Pete’ Joins 2020 Dem Race as Face of New Generation

Pete Buttigieg, the little-known Indiana mayor who has risen to prominence in the early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, made his official campaign entrance Sunday by claiming the mantle of youthful generation ready to reshape the country.

"I recognize the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor. More than a little bold, at age 37, to seek the highest office in the land," he said to cheers of "Pete, Pete, Pete" from an audience assembled in a former Studebaker auto plant.

The South Bend mayor, a Rhodes Scholar and Afghanistan War veteran who has been exploring a White House run since January, has now joined a field of a dozen-plus rivals vying to take on President Donald Trump.

"The forces of change in our country today are tectonic," he said. "Forces that help to explain what made this current presidency even possible. That's why, this time, it's not just about winning an election — it's about winning an era."

Buttigieg will return this week to Iowa and New Hampshire, which hold the nation's first nominating contests, to campaign as a full-fledged candidate now being taken more seriously.

Over the past few months, Buttigieg has appeared frequently on national TV news and talk shows and developed a strong social media following with his message that the country needs "a new generation of leadership."

Buttigieg's poll numbers have climbed. Some polls put him behind only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who sought the party's nomination in 2016, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet said he's running.

Buttigieg's campaign has raised more than $7 million in the first three months of this year, a total eclipsed by Sanders' leading $18 million but more than Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

"Right now, it's pretty fun," Buttigieg told The Associated Press last month while visiting South Carolina , where he was met by larger-than-expected crowds.

His challenge is finding a way to sustain the momentum over the long term and avoiding becoming a "flavor-of-the-month" candidate. Scrutiny of his leadership in South Bend has increased, as has his criticism of Vice President Gov. Mike Pence , who was Indian's governor when Buttigieg was in his first term as mayor.

Buttigieg would be the first openly gay nominee of a major presidential party; he married his husband, Chasten, last year. He would be the first mayor to go directly to the White House. And he would be the youngest person to become president, turning 39 the day before the next inauguration, on Jan. 20, 2021. Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he took office, while John F. Kennedy was 43 and Bill Clinton 46.

The campaign kickoff speech echoed themes that have resonated with voters during Buttigieg's exploratory phase.

He talks often about how political decisions shape people's lives, including his own — from serving as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve in 2014, to being able to marry his husband and to not having to worry about how to pay for his father's hospital bills after his father's death this year.

Buttigieg also says the best way for Democrats to defeat Trump may be to nominate a mayor experienced in helping to revive a Midwestern city once described as "dying," rather than a politician who has spent years "marinating" in Washington.

He has criticized Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," saying the way to move the country forward is not to look backward or cling to an old way of life.

"There's a myth being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and turn it back," he said in the kickoff speak. "It comes from people who think the only way to reach communities like ours is through resentment and nostalgia, selling an impossible promise of returning to a bygone era that was never as great as advertised to begin with."

South Bend, which neighbors the University of Notre Dame, was hit hard by the decline of manufacturing, dating to the 1963 closing of the Studebaker auto plant that costs thousands of residents their jobs.

The hulking, dilapidated factory loomed over the city for much of the past 60 years as what Buttigieg called a daily reminder of South Bend's city's past. Partially remodeled, it's now a mixed-use mixed-use technology center outside downtown — and the setting for Bettigieg's announcement.

Several thousand people assembled inside, where a steady stream of raindrops fell on speakers on the stage through the leaky roof. An overflow crowd of a few hundred more stood outside.

"I like that he's young. He's so relatable. He doesn't seem like a politician to me," said Tom Lacy, a 62-year-old retired who came from Peoria, Illinois, for the event with his wife, Candy, on their 35th wedding anniversary. "The contrast between him and our current president is unbelievable."

Nausher Ahmad Sial, a 68-year-old developer from South Bend, said the 2020 election is about the future of the country and "we need to try new blood."

Sial, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan 35 years ago, said he has worked with Buttigieg on development projects in the city and described the mayor as a "very honest, very fair guy."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Breaking: Second Pedophile Discovered at Houston Drag Queen Story Hour Program

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Passengers rage over disruptions at India’s embattled Jet Airways

FILE PHOTO: Jet Airways flight information is seen at check-in counters inside the international airport in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: Jet Airways flight information is seen at check-in counters inside the international airport in Mumbai, India, August 13, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

March 15, 2019

By Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s embattled Jet Airways put photographs of smiling women employees on social media last week for Women’s Day, using the tagline “Standing tall; touching the skies” but few passengers reacted cheerfully.

“‘Touching the skies’ is a good joke at a time when your flights are getting grounded,” said a respondent on Twitter, while others expressed anger and dismay at cancellations, delays in refunds and long response times to telephone calls.

India’s second-largest carrier, grappling with debt of more than $1 billion, Jet has delayed payments to banks, lessors, vendors and staff. Lessors have grounded more than three dozen planes, forcing hundreds of flights to be canceled.

Rising customer frustration could bring further disruption for the 25-year-old airline, as some flyers backed a boycott, while others blamed cancellations for ruining their plans.

“We had to worry about rebooking flights during our wedding, when there is already so much to do,” said Siddhant Agarwal, a 32-year-old businessman whose flight home from his honeymoon was abruptly canceled just days before his marriage.

Agarwal, who is based in the capital, New Delhi, had to pay nearly twice as much for new tickets, he said.

“They did not even offer an apology, which is disappointing and unprofessional.”

The airline, partly owned by Etihad Airways, did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

PLANES GROUNDED

Amid talks for a bailout led by state-run banks, lessors have forced the airline to ground at least 37 planes over non-payment of dues and some have also threatened repossession.

It had 556 flights on average in January, down from 641 a year earlier, data from the aviation regulator showed.

(For an interactive graphic on Jet’s average daily flights, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2FeFDel)

Jet has planned cancellations of more than 600 flights in March, said one source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Monday’s tally of about 330 flights compared with a daily average of nearly 650 in March 2018, a second source said, adding that short notice about grounded planes triggered many unplanned cancellations.

“The bigger worry is if people stop future bookings, because that will affect cash flows,” said the source, adding that cancellations in February and March outstripped prior months.

Jet Airways’ market share shrank to 14.3 percent in 2018 from 17.2 percent a year earlier, even as India’s aviation market grew nearly a fifth.

Some of the hundreds of aggrieved passengers who posted on the airline’s Facebook page and Twitter told of delays on the way to wedding and festival celebrations, and several uploaded screenshots showing telephone wait times longer than an hour for a response from the customer call center.

After a last-minute cancellation, comedian Kenny Sebastian expressed outrage on Twitter, warning his 1.74 million followers to avoid the airline.

“Best part is they made it sound like it was the passengers’ fault,” he said this week.

(Additional reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Euan Rocha and Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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Labour’s Corbyn invites UK lawmakers to help break Brexit impasse

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to the media outside New Zealand House in London
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to the media outside New Zealand House, following Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand, in London, Britain March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

March 17, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written to lawmakers from across Britain’s parliament to discuss ways to break the Brexit impasse, just days before the prime minister is expected to put her deal to another vote.

In a letter written to lawmakers from all parties in parliament, Corbyn invited them to meet with him and his Brexit policy chief Keir Starmer to discuss how to “break the Brexit impasse”, and use as a starting point Labour’s alternative plan and its support for a vote to prevent a “damaging Brexit”.

“It must now be incumbent on us all as parliamentarians to do our best to work together and find a compromise and a solution that ends the needless uncertainty and worry that the government’s failed Brexit negotiations have caused,” Corbyn said in his letter.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Fate in limbo, many Nicaraguan exiles struggle in Costa Rica

Back in Nicaragua, she owned her own home and made enough as an elementary substitute teacher and lawyers' assistant to eke out a stable, if not luxurious, life.

Now she spends her days on the streets in and around Costa Rica's capital begging for change and clutching a can decorated with Nicaragua's blue-and-white flag, an unmistakable reminder to pedestrians of the political turbulence that has claimed hundreds of lives in her native country.

"I never did this before," said the 53-year-old woman. "We were modest," she said, "but life (there) is cheaper."

The fate of the estimated 50,000 Nicaraguans who've fled violence and persecution for exile in Costa Rica over the last year is a central point in fledgling peace talks between Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government and the opposition.

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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