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Midwest floods threaten ethanol supply, could affect prices at the pump

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As waters from last week’s catastrophic floods in the Midwest begin to recede, people are getting a chance to assess the damages in the region.

Several people have lost their homes, farms, and livestock. In Nebraska alone, farmers and ranchers face up to $880 billion in losses. But, the consequences of the devastation are being felt beyond the heartland. Several railroad tracks are damaged, affecting the shipment of ethanol and, in turn, potentially raising gas prices weeks before summer driving season.

“It is going to impact our pocketbooks. It is also going to impact our environment,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, chief energy officer at the University of Houston.

FLOODING DAMAGE EXTENSIVE IN MIDWEST AND MORE RAIN FORECAST

Several railroad tracks were damaged by the floods, affecting the shipment of ethanol from the Midwest to refineries throughout the country. 

Several railroad tracks were damaged by the floods, affecting the shipment of ethanol from the Midwest to refineries throughout the country.  (Fox News)

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Ethanol is an alternative fuel commonly made from corn. It’s typically shipped out of the Midwest by train or truck to coastal refineries like those in Texas. The product is then blended with refinery-made fuel so it can meet the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Almost all U.S. gasoline is blended with 10 percent ethanol. Now, disruptions in the railway service are threatening a supply crunch.

“There’s been about a 15 percent disruption. There are about 200 units that are producing it. They’re able to make the ethanol, they just can’t get it out to markets,” Krishnamoorti said.

Geoff Cooper, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said it's definitely impacting supply.

“There are a handful of ethanol facilities that are temporarily halted or have certainly reduced output because of the flooding,” Cooper said.

MIDWEST, SOUTH FACE 'POTENTIALLY UNPRECEDENTED FLOODING THROUGH MAY, NOAA SAYS

A spokesman for Valero, a Texas-based fuel company, confirmed its stations in the Austin market switched to non-ethanol blended gasoline this week.

Growth Energy, an American trade association representing ethanol producers, sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, asking for help.

“Several markets in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest have become very tight and ethanol prices have risen in those markets because of the supply situation," the letter said, in part. "Additionally, markets in Texas are now solely providing finished ethanol-free gasoline, usually sold at a cost of 20-40 cents higher than regular ethanol-blended fuel.”

“We’re seeing a direct reflection of the shortage of ethanol in ethanol prices being escalated in the commodities market,” added Krishnamoorti.

Waters are receding. Still, many face a long road to recovery after the catastrophic floods led to property, crop, and livestock losses.

Waters are receding. Still, many face a long road to recovery after the catastrophic floods led to property, crop, and livestock losses. (Fox News)

But Cooper believes there is no need for alarm just yet. He said the large amounts of ethanol in storage would help offset the disruptions in the market.

“It’s our hope that the ethanol that’s in storage in the Gulf Coast region and across the nation is going to be sufficient to tide those markets over until the rail lines get reopened,” he said.

Union Pacific and BNSF Railway did not mention when repairs to the tracks will be finished.

Source: Fox News National

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Italy PM denies economy minister could step down

Italian Economy Minister Tria attends a eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels
Italian Economy Minister Giovanni Tria attends a eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium January 21, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

April 3, 2019

ROMA (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday ruled out the idea that Economy Minister Giovanni Tria could step down due to tensions with the ruling coalition.

“All ministers should stay calm … there is nothing on the agenda,” Conte said during a press conference in Doha when asked about rumours that Tria could quit.

Tria himself dismissed the speculation as “rubbish”, according to comments reported by Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

(Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, editing by Agnieszka Flak)

Source: OANN

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Singer Shakira to face tax fraud accusation in Spanish court in June

FILE PHOTO: Colombian singer Shakira poses during a photocall presenting her new album
FILE PHOTO: Colombian singer Shakira poses during a photocall presenting her new album "Shakira" in Barcelona March 20, 2014. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

February 26, 2019

MADRID (Reuters) – Colombian singer Shakira has been called to appear in a Spanish court on June 12 to face accusations of failing to pay 14.5 million euros ($16.5 million) in tax, the court in the Catalonia region said on Tuesday.

A court statement dated Jan. 22 summoning her was published on Tuesday.

Prosecutors filed charges in December claiming Shakira had failed to pay tax on income earned between 2012 and 2014, during which time they say she lived in the region.

Shakira’s representatives said in a statement after the accusation was filed that the singer did not live in Spain until 2015 and had met all of her tax obligations.

The singer of “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Clandestino” regularly attends football matches of her partner, Gerard Pique, who plays for Barcelona. Pique and Shakira, a couple since the start of the decade, have two children.

Spanish authorities have pursued other major celebrities over tax.

Pique’s Argentinian Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi was found guilty, along with his father, of a 4.1 million euro tax fraud in 2016 and was fined 250,000 euros as well as paying back the missing tax plus interest.

On Jan. 22, Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Real Madrid for Juventus this year, was fined a total of almost 19 million euros for tax fraud.

(Reporting by Rodrigo de Miguel; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: OANN

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America's Next Moon Shot: Fixing the Broken Political System

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In 1961, President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon before the decade was done, and we did it.

On Friday, with HR 1 as their rocket ship, House Democrats challenged the Republican-held Senate and White House to another big visionary moment: Join us in repairing and modernizing our representative democracy. This bill is a beacon of hope for citizens sick of legislators dialing for dollars, cozying up to lobbyists, and rigging the system.

It is easy to forget that as presidential candidates in 2016, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump could not have been more ideologically different, but both agreed that our political system is grossly unfair and dominated by rich contributors demanding favors. The average American is either forgotten or gets hammered by bigger political powers.

But this bill is the latest move in a campaign that started in the midterms last year, when nearly 50 Democrats won their seats — and the House majority — by campaigning on a reform agenda, rejecting corporate PAC money and fighting back against the culture of corruption in Washington. Now, every declared Democratic 2020 candidate is talking about these issues on the campaign trail because the For the People Act paints an optimistic future for our country where more Americans vote and are incentivized to participate in our great democratic experiment. It is good politics and good policy.

In the past, Republicans and Democrats agreed on core parts of HR 1 that would fix the feckless Federal Election Commission, eliminate dark money, improve transparency, increase the leverage of small-dollar contributions, and help prevent anonymous foreign actors from interfering in our elections. And Democratic leadership should be applauded for thinking bigger and starting a national, comprehensive conversation about repairing our political system. Election eve polling showed that a majority of voters wanted reform to be a top priority for this Congress, and four in five voters supported bipartisan political reform.

The lawmakers who voted for this bill are sending a powerful message that should reverberate around the country: It is time to prioritize the American people over the special interests, to replace fealty to political labels and parties with those politicians that say yes to repairing our political system for the next generation. They are following on the work started by dozens of states and localities that have been strengthening ethics, increasing transparency, and fighting big money.

But now comes the next step in governing — spending time building bipartisan coalitions that will turn this House-passed bill into federal law. The majority leader has pledged to prevent it from moving forward in the Senate, painting it incorrectly as nothing more than a “Democratic Politician Protection Act” and labeling the expanded voting provisions as little other than a paid holiday for federal workers. Both of these are talking points peddled for years by opponents of reform who want the system to stay rigged. I refuse to believe that the late great John McCain was the last of his party in the upper chamber to view political reform as smart politics and policy.

When I served in Congress, I knew who on the other side of the aisle I could approach and work with on legislation I cared deeply about in a bipartisan manner to support efforts to begin programs like Head Start, AmeriCorps and the 9/11 Commission. It is time for Democrats in Congress to do the same because until both parties find common ground, this legislation and others like it will not become law.

At the end of the day, we need to sanitize and clean out the culture of corruption in Washington. The greatest threat to our democracy comes not from foreign enemies outside our borders but from our tendency to retreat into tribalism and not work together to “form a more perfect union.” No one wants the status quo to continue, and 38 percent of Americans support the creation of a third party. Let’s see Democrats and Republicans put country above party.

Tim Roemer is a former Democratic U.S. congressman from Indiana and former U.S. ambassador to India and co-chairman of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus. 

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Chick-fil-A’s banishment from San Antonio Airport prompts investigation by Texas AG

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday that he was opening an investigation into San Antonio's decision to exclude Chick-fil-A from a contract with the city’s airport over the company’s religious beliefs.

Paxton sent a letter to San Antonio City Council members and Mayor Ron Nirenberg, saying that he believed the first amendment was “under assault” over the city’s decision last week to exclude Chick-fil-A from a concessions contract with San Antonio International Airport because of what one council member called its “legacy of anti-LGBT behavior.”

“The Constitution’s protection of religious liberty is somehow even better than Chick-fil-A’s chicken. Unfortunately, I have serious concerns that both are under assault at the San Antonio Airport,” the letter read.

UNIVERSITY DEAN RESIGNS AFTER SCHOOL BANS CHICK-FIL-A: ‘I’M A VERY COMMITTED CHRISTIAN’

Paxton directed the AG’s office to open an investigation into whether the city’s action violated state law.

He also sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao asking for the department to investigate whether the motion also violated federal laws.

“The city’s decision to specifically exclude Chick-fil-A from a government program based on the sincerely held religious beliefs of its leadership raises serious constitutional questions,” Paxton’s letter to the DOT stated.

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“There is no evidence indicating that Chick-fil-A has ever maintained any policy or practice of discriminating against any group of people, and the city offered no such evidence as the basis of its action.”

The Atlanta-based fast-food chain has faced opposition elsewhere over donating millions over the years to groups that oppose same-sex marriage. Paxton has made religious freedom battles a focus of his office since being elected in 2014.

Source: Fox News National

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Waltrip reflects on career as driver, broadcaster

NASCAR: Food City 500-Practice
Apr 5, 2019; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR hall of famer Darrell Waltrip speaks during a press conference discussing his retirement from Fox Sports after practice for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

April 6, 2019

BRISTOL, Tenn. – A day after it was announced that Darrell Waltrip would end his broadcasting career this year, the three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion sat down and spoke with the media about his legendary career behind the wheel and in the television booth.

“Some people have thought that this was a spur-of-the-moment decision, something that I decided to do over the last two or three weeks,” Waltrip said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he won 12 times. “That is so far from the truth. …

“Anybody that’s done what I’ve done, whether it’s a driving career or a TV career, you can always look back and say ‘maybe should have done something different, maybe I should have thought about this or maybe I should have thought about that.’

“This is my home. For 60 years of my 72 I was holding on to something. I was holding on to a steering wheel for 30 years; I let go of that wheel and I grabbed on to a microphone. And I held on to a microphone for another 19 years. I’ve always been holding on to something.”

Waltrip, along with Mike Joy and former series crew chief Larry McReynolds, made up the original booth talent for FOX Sports when the network began NASCAR coverage in 2001. The move to television came after a driving career that saw Waltrip win series championships in 1981-82 and 1985 as well as 84 races.

In 2016, three-time series champion Jeff Gordon joined Waltrip and Joy in the booth.

As a racer in the early 1970s, Waltrip rocked the established stars of the day almost from the moment he arrived on the scene. By the end of the decade, he was winning multiple races and contending for championships. He was both loved and loathed as a competitor by fans and fellow drivers alike.

His career as a broadcaster was equally notable as he quickly helped merge two very different eras of the sport, identifying seamlessly with the older established followers while teaching a younger audience the ins and outs of NASCAR.

Mike Helton, vice chairman of NASCAR, noted that Waltrip has made “a remarkable impact on a lot of people personally but on our industry in general.

“I count my blessings as I get older about those that I have been able to share my career with, but you’re right there among the top,” Helton told Waltrip. “You’re a remarkable person.”

Waltrip will remain in the booth for the remainder of the FOX portion of the 2019 racing season, which concludes June 23 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.

A replacement has not been named.

“They say you get what you give,” Waltrip said. “Well, I gave a lot. But I got a whole lot more in return.”

BLANEY HOPES TO TRANSFORM EARLY SEASON SPEED INTO WINS

The speed has been present nearly every race. There is no disputing that, as Ryan Blaney has had a fast car capable of contending in all seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races this season.

But while Blaney has had speed and led the third-most laps, that speed has not translated into winning. Instead, happenstance and miscues have contributed to what Blaney acknowledges has been a frustrating season heading into the Food City 500 on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“There are moments you get frustrated at it,” Blaney said. “You just wish stuff would stop happening.

“The good thing is we’ve had speed all year. Honestly, I think we’ve had cars good enough to win almost every single one of them — at least have a shot at them.”

Blaney’s season began by crashing-out of the Daytona 500, a race he spent the majority of running up front before being collected in a multi-car accident with 10 laps remaining. Then came consecutive 22nd-place finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where again Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford was among the fastest cars on the track but mistakes and luck prevented him from contending.

Then came last week, when the gremlins that inflicted Blaney to start the season returned at Texas Motor Speedway. He was leading when his car began billowing smoke, later diagnosed as a parts failure that caused the water to leak out and caused the engine to blow. In a race where he led 45 laps, Blaney finished 37th.

“We had that run there of really good finishes like we finished where we had been running,” Blaney said. “I wouldn’t say it’s relieving, but it was nice to finally actually not have anything go wrong in those races. And then, you look at last week leading the race and a part falls off and we end up blowing up. That part is frustrating.”

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES DASH 4 CASH KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND

Saturday’s Alsco 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race brings additional incentive for four drivers — the series’ seventh race is the first for this year’s Dash 4 Cash bonus program.

Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet), Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota), Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98 Ford) and Michael Annett (JR Motorsports No. 1 Chevrolet) qualified for the opening round of the program based on their respective finishes a week earlier at Texas Motor Speedway.

The highest finishing Dash 4 Cash-eligible driver in any of the four races — consecutive stops at Bristol, Richmond (Va.) Raceway, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and Dover (Del.) International Speedway — earns a $100,000 bonus.

The drivers agree on one thing — competing in a Dash 4 Cash event is very similar to NASCAR’s season-ending playoffs. The goal is to win the race but finishing ahead of the other qualifiers will be enough to collect the six-figure bonus.

“At the beginning … you still want to win the race,” Bell noted. “But at the end of the race, if you’re not in position to win, then it really changes. It almost kind of relates to the final four at Homestead because you’re only racing three other competitors.”

Reddick says his approach is the same as it would be for any race, but that “you kind of look at it like a cutoff (elimination) race.

“I’ll pay closer attention to Chase and Michael than I have in the past … obviously me and Christopher have been pretty even about everywhere we’ve gone this year.”

Said Annett: “I definitely think it comes into play when it’s not your day, you can turn it into it and not necessarily have to win the race. That’s the biggest thing — taking chances that you probably wouldn’t for a fifth- or sixth-place finish.”

NATALIE DECKER READIES FOR NASCAR K&N PRO SERIES EAST DEBUT

Natalie Decker, 21, will make her NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, competing in the Zombie Auto 150 for DGR-Crosley. A native of Eagle River, Wis., Decker recently returned from Spain where she was one of 28 finalists competing for 18 spots in the new all-female W Series.

While she failed to make the final cut, Decker said the experience was unforgettable.

“It was amazing and so wonderful,” Decker said. “I’m so happy I did it. I have a lot to learn in road racing; I had never done that before.

“It was really cool to get that experience and I learned a lot. Maybe one day I can race an F3 car, but I really don’t want to do that now. I really want to focus on (NASCAR). I really wanted to do the W Series just because of what they were doing for women and being a part of that.”

Decker has made three starts for the DGR-Crosley team this year in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Her best finish was 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Bristol’s fast, high-banked, 0.533-mile layout left a quick impression.

“When I first pulled in, I was getting dizzy just trying to look at everything,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine what it would be like when I got out on the track.

“It was totally different. I come from short-track racing, but this is a whole new level of short-track racing. I’ve raced at Slinger Speedway (in Wisconsin) and that’s a really banked track but this is just totally different.”

NASCAR HALL OF FAMERS WALTRIP, ALLISON TO SERVE AS PRE-RACE DIGNITARIES

Legendary racers Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison will serve as pre-race dignitaries for Sunday’s Food City 500. Allison will give the command “Gentlemen, start your engines,” while Waltrip will wave the green flag from the flag stand to officially start the race. The two NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers combined for four Cup Series championships and 168 victories. … John Hunter Nemechek (GMS Racing) paced the first of two Xfinity Series practices at BMS while Cole Custer (Stewart-Haas Racing) led the final session. … Harrison Burton, son of former NASCAR Cup driver Jeff Burton, is making his Xfinity Series debut at Bristol. The youngster was seventh fastest in the opening round and 13th in the latter session. … BMS officials announced a multi-year extension with race sponsor Food City on Wednesday. The regional grocery chain has held the naming rights to the spring MENCS event since 1992. It is the second longest race entitlement in the series. Coca-Cola has been the primary sponsor for the annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway since 1985.

–By Kenny Bruce, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

Source: OANN

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Explainer: Why China’s inclusion in global bond benchmarks matters

An employee counts Chinese 100 yuan banknotes at a branch of China Merchants Bank in Hefei
An employee counts Chinese 100 yuan banknotes at a branch of China Merchants Bank in Hefei, Anhui province June 21, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer

March 29, 2019

By Noah Sin

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s yuan-denominated onshore bonds will be begin to be included in the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index from Monday, and two other competing indices are likely to soon follow suit.

The milestone inclusion is expected to draw billions of foreign dollars into China’s $13 trillion bond market, the world’s third largest.

Here’s why investors across the world are watching this closely:

WHICH INDEX PROVIDERS ARE ADDING CHINESE BONDS AND WHEN?

After years of anticipation, benchmark global bond indexes are finally incorporating China, drawing many investors – some for the first time – to this vast market.

Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index on April 1 will begin adding Chinese government and policy bank bonds over 20 months. The inclusion will eventually take China’s weight in the index to 6.03 percent, Bloomberg said in January.

Chinese government bonds are also on a “watchlist” of bonds to join FTSE Russell’s World Government Bond Index (WGBI), with a review set to take place in September, the index provider has said.

China was put on a watchlist for the J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Global Diversified, the other major bond benchmark, in 2016. JP Morgan will survey investor feedback on inclusion at its annual meeting this summer, a bank spokeswoman said.

WHY NOW?

Analysts have long argued China’s bond market, the world’s third largest, is too big to ignore. But restrictions have prevented many investors from tapping Chinese bonds.

China has over the years made access easier for foreign investors, most recently by launching the Bond Connect scheme in 2017, which allows investors to buy and sell onshore bonds via Hong Kong.

In the past year, authorities added two key capabilities: delivery versus payment and block trades, common features in financial markets elsewhere. Beijing also clarified how it will tax foreign investor gains from Chinese bonds.

The introduction of all three features were prescribed by Bloomberg in March 2018 as pre-conditions for index inclusion.

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL IT BRING CHINA?

The Global Aggregate Index is tracked by an estimated $2.5 trillion of portfolio assets under management. A 6 percent weighting would therefore bring $150 billion to Chinese fixed income, according to HSBC and several other banks.

But Goldman Sachs in February cut its inflows forecast to between $120 billion and $150 billion, noting 10 to 20 percent of investors may not be ready to track the index on day one due to operational difficulties and other concerns. Standard Chartered made a similar observation.

Deutsche Bank also put its inflows estimate at $120 billion in a report last month, but it reached that conclusion while assuming the Global Aggregate is followed by a smaller $2 trillion pool of passive assets.

A 5 percent inclusion in WGBI will spur an additional $125 billion of inflows, and a 10 percent inclusion in JP Morgan’s benchmark could bring another $22 billion to China, said HSBC.

WHAT DO INVESTORS WORRY ABOUT?

Recently issued Chinese government bonds tend to be much less actively traded, or “liquid”, once a new batch of issuance comes through. That could make it difficult for index-tracking investors to replicate the inclusion portfolio, said ASIFMA, a financial industry lobby.

The toolkit to manage interest rate risks is also limited. Hedging instruments such as bond futures and repos are open only to some foreign investors, said ASIFMA, which has also called for wider liberalization of the derivatives market.

With Chinese bonds representing a mere 6 percent in the Global Aggregate Index, most investors seem happy to overlook these shortfalls, though that may change as the country’s weight in global indexes goes up.

(Additional reporting by Samuel Shen in SHANGHAI; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Sam Holmes)

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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