Apr 2, 2019; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Edward Pasquale (80) stops a shot by Montreal Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen (62) while Erik Cernak (81) defends during the third period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
April 3, 2019
The Montreal Canadiens gained a critical victory in their playoff chase with a 4-2 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
The win brings the Canadiens (43-29-8, 94 points) even on points with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second Eastern Conference wild-card slot. Both teams have 94 points, though Columbus is still ahead on a tiebreaker. The Carolina Hurricanes are only a point ahead of Montreal and Columbus for the first wild-card position.
After falling behind twice in the game, Montreal finally took the lead on Artturi Lehkonen’s goal 7:47 into the third period. A looping shot from Victor Mete was batted out of the air by Lehkonen, then knocked in on his second attempt for his 11th goal of the season.
Lehkonen also had an assist in the game, while Jordie Benn contributed two assists for the Canadiens. The Lightning must win their final two games to equal the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for the most wins in a single season.
Hurricanes 4, Maple Leafs 1
Dougie Hamilton had two goals as visiting Carolina defeated Toronto to leap to the front of the East wild-card chase.
Justin Williams and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes (44-29-7, 95 points), who won for only the second time in a five-game stretch. Staal and Hamilton each scored in the third period, including the final one into an empty net by Hamilton. Staal also recorded an assist.
John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs (46-27-7, 99 points), who secured a playoff spot Monday night with a victory at the New York Islanders.
Bruins 6, Blue Jackets 2
Jake DeBrusk scored two goals, including one of the luckiest he’ll ever tally, and Brad Marchand reached the century mark for points as visiting Boston routed Columbus.
The Bruins (48-23-9, 105 points) solidified their claim for second place in the Atlantic Division, while the Blue Jackets (45-31-4, 94 points) saw their five-game winning streak snapped.
DeBrusk’s opening tally 118 seconds into the affair set the tone for the rest of the game for both teams. From the slot, he swung at a cross-ice pass and watched as the puck bounced off the top of the net, off the back of Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and into the cage.
Stars 6, Flyers 2
Alexander Radulov had two goals, including the game-winner, and two assists, as Dallas rolled past visiting Philadelphia to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2016.
The win was the fourth in the past five games for the Stars (42-31-7, 91 points), who held on to their three-point cushion as the first wild-card team in the Western Conference with two games to play in the regular season: Friday at Chicago and Saturday at home versus Minnesota.
Dallas goalkeeper Anton Khudobin recorded 32 saves in the win. Esa Lindell and Jason Dickinson each had a goal and an assist.
Avalanche 6, Oilers 2
Alexander Kerfoot scored two goals, Tyson Barrie had a goal and an assist, and Colorado scored six unanswered goals to beat Edmonton in Denver.
Nathan MacKinnon, Colin Wilson and Sven Andrighetto also scored, and Semyon Varlamov had 27 saves for Colorado (37-29-14, 88 points).
The Avalanche took firm control of the second wild-card spot in the West, as the Arizona Coyotes (84 points) lost to Los Angeles later Tuesday. With two games remaining for both teams, Arizona must win out while Colorado loses out to get into the postseason on a tiebreaker.
Kings 3, Coyotes 1
Arizona’s playoff hopes took a major hit, and the team also lost goalie Darcy Kuemper to an eye injury in a loss to visiting Los Angeles.
Trevor Lewis gave the Kings a 2-1 lead with a goal at 3:29 of the third period. Lewis was bumped from behind by Coyotes defenseman Kevin Connauton just as the puck crossed the goal line, and his stick blade went through Kuemper’s mask and struck him in the face near his right eye.
Kuemper lay on the ice in pain while being treated by trainers, before departing with a towel held to his face. He was replaced by Cal Pickard, though head coach Rick Tocchet expressed optimism about Kemper’s status after the game.
Wild 5, Jets 1
Zach Parise scored twice in his return from a four-game injury absence as Minnesota completed a five-game season sweep of Winnipeg with a victory in Saint Paul, Minn.
Victor Rask, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno also tallied for the Wild (37-34-9, 83 points), who recorded just their third win in 15 home outings (3-8-4). However, it was not enough to keep Minnesota in playoff contention, as Colorado’s win over Edmonton officially eliminated the Wild.
Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk, who made 32 saves on Tuesday, turned aside 114 of 120 shots en route to defeating Winnipeg four times this season. The Jets (46-30-4, 96) have dropped four of their last five games and are even in points atop the Central Division with Nashville (45-29-6), though Winnipeg holds the tiebreaker.
Predators 3, Sabres 2
Ryan Johansen scored the tiebreaking goal 6:32 into the third period, and visiting Nashville handed reeling Buffalo a season-high eighth straight loss.
P.K. Subban had a goal with an assist for the Predators, who have clinched a playoff spot and are 6-2-1 in their last nine games. Pekka Rinne notched 26 saves.
Meanwhile, the Sabres (31-39-10, 72 points) are mired in their longest losing streak since 2014-15. Eliminated from playoff contention, Buffalo is 3-18-3 since Feb. 15.
Red Wings 4, Penguins 1
Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha scored two goals apiece, and host Detroit prevented Pittsburgh from clinching a playoff berth.
The Penguins needed a victory or a Montreal loss to Tampa Bay to secure a spot in the postseason. Pittsburgh (43-26-11, 97 points) has two games remaining.
Bertuzzi set a franchise record with his fourth consecutive three-point game. Mantha followed his first career hat trick against Boston on Sunday with two third-period goals. The other member of Detroit’s first line, Dylan Larkin, collected three assists as the Red Wings (32-38-10, 74 points) notched their season-high sixth straight victory.
Canucks 4, Sharks 2
Markus Granlund’s goal at 13:39 of the third period gave Vancouver a comeback home-ice victory over San Jose.
Granlund gave the Canucks an insurmountable 3-2 lead, tapping in a rebound off the post during a scramble, as they rallied from a 2-1 deficit with goals two minutes and 21 seconds apart. Granlund emerged the hero for the second straight game, after also scoring the shootout winner Saturday against Dallas.
The Canucks, who have missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season, posted their third straight home win as they played their final game of 2018-19 at Rogers Arena. The Sharks suffered their ninth loss in 10 games.
FILE PHOTO: A ship unloads a cargo of fuel at the port of Hodeida, Yemen April 1, 2018. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
March 11, 2019
By Julia Payne
LONDON (Reuters) – High-sulfur fuel oil demand will fall 60 percent next year while marine gasoil demand will more than double due to new international regulations on shipping fuel, the International Energy Agency forecast on Monday.
A new 0.5 percent sulfur content cap in shipping fuel set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will come into effect in 2020, one of the biggest fundamental events to hit oil markets in years.
Refiners and shipping firms have had years to prepare, but disruptions are still anticipated. Vessels will have to stop using high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) unless they install filters, or use far more expensive compliant fuels.
A fuel type designed to meet the new cap, very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), will initially be in limited supply, and quality discrepancies at different ports mean shippers are likely to stick to another compliant but pricier fuel, marine gasoil.
In 2020, “demand for HSFO… will fall from 3.5 million barrels per day to 1.4 million bpd,” the IEA said in a report. “Demand for marine gasoil (will increase) from 900,000 bpd to 2 million bpd.”
The IEA expects VLSFO demand to reach 1 million bpd in 2020 and 1.8 million bpd by 2024, while marine gasoil demand will peak in 2020 and decrease to 1.8 million bpd by 2024.
A slight shortfall in marine gasoil supply next year is likely to push up prices by a fifth, assuming a significant level of non-compliance, the IEA said, and a draw on gasoil stocks of about 200,000 bpd.
One solution for shipping firms is to install sulfur filtering units on board, known as scrubbers, which would allow vessels to continue burning cheaper HSFO.
The IEA estimates that about 4,000 scrubbers will be installed by 2020, consuming around 680,000 bpd of fuel oil on average, up from 340,000 bpd in 2019.
As HSFO demand drops, the IEA expects the unwanted product to be used for cement plants and power generation particularly in the Middle East, where 11 gigawatts of new power capacity is being installed, mainly in Saudi Arabia.
The agency also expects a significant level of non-compliance in the first year of the new regulations due to the shortfall of VLSFO. It expects non-compliant vessels to account for 16 percent, or 700,000 bpd, of HSFO demand.
Looking ahead to 2024, annual gasoil demand growth will rise to 0.9 percent, supported by IMO 2020, with marine demand growing at a rate of 12.7 percent per year.
Refiners are expected to raise their gasoil output by 2.3 million bpd by 2024.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles as she arives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
PARIS – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss Brexit, relations with the United States and other European issues.
Wednesday's meeting comes one day after British Prime Minister Theresa May said Parliament would get the chance to vote to delay Britain's scheduled March 29 departure from the European Union. Such a delay would require other EU members' approval.
Merkel and Macron will also evoke the French-German defense partnership, according to the French president's office.
The leaders in January signed a pact renewing their countries' decades-long friendship. They pledged to increase cooperation in the areas of foreign and defense policy, fighting crime and terrorism, international development and research.
FILE PHOTO - U.S. United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley (C) White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (L) and Jason Greenblatt (R), U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy wait for a meeting of the UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York, U.S., February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
April 10, 2019
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a White House where no secret is safe for long, one development has remained stubbornly confidential – the contents of a Middle East peace plan authored by President Donald Trump’s advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt.
With Trump having delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May, a U.S.-brokered peace deal may seem farther away now than when talks collapsed five years ago.
Then on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election, only days after proposing to annex Jewish West Bank settlements, traditionally viewed as illegal by much of the world. The Trump administration has yet to comment on the election-eve remarks.
Aides expect Trump to release the plan once Netanyahu forms a government coalition, and officials say that despite criticism of the administration’s moves to date, the plan will demand compromises from both sides.
That the peace plan has remained a secret is remarkable in a White House where drafts of executive orders, confidential conversations and internal deliberations all find their way to the front pages.
Kushner and Greenblatt have limited the plan’s distribution over the two years they have been crafting it. It has been kept secret “to ensure people approach it with an open mind” when it is released, a senior administration official said.
Only four people have regular access – Kushner, Greenblatt, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz, the official said.
Trump is briefed regularly on the contents but is not believed to have read the entire document of dozens of pages.
“He is briefed if something interesting is happening or there is an idea they want to run by him,” the official said.
Kushner, a New York real estate developer and husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and Greenblatt, a former lawyer for Trump, joined the process knowing little about the tortured, decades-long path in search of Arab-Israeli peace.
Their proposal addresses such core political issues as the status of Jerusalem, and separately aims at helping the Palestinians strengthen their economy.
Cloaked in secrecy is whether the plan will propose outright the creation of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians’ core demand.
On Wednesday, Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the plan would be presented before too long but, when asked, declined to say whether the administration favored a two-state solution, long the basis of Middle East peacemaking.
Not even Trump, who is known to blurt out news whenever he feels like it, has dribbled out details of the peace plan because of the sensitivity.
He tells his Middle East envoys, “If you guys can get this done you’re going to be the greatest negotiators in history,” said a senior White House official.
‘YOUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE’
When Kushner and Greenblatt began developing their plan in 2017, they asked the parties to look to the future and describe an outcome on each issue that they could accept rather than get locked into historical stances, two officials said.
“You can’t let your grandfather’s conflict hold back your children’s future” was their message to both sides, one official said.
Palestinians reject Trump’s pro-Israel policies.
“The extremist and militaristic agenda, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has been emboldened by the Trump administration’s reckless policies and blind support,” said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Pompeo and White House national security adviser John Bolton are all kept up to date on the peace plan, but have kept a hands-off approach to it, deferring to Kushner, two other officials said.
The secrecy maintained by Kushner and Greenblatt, even as they refine and polish the plan, has posed something of a challenge for Gulf governments, who want to know the details before committing resources to a Palestinian fund.
Kushner and Greenblatt toured Gulf states in February to promote the economic part of the plan and get opinions about it, without providing a detailed view of the contents of the more crucial political section.
One of their stops was in Qatar.
Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Lolwah Al Khater, speaking to a small group of reporters in Washington recently, gave no indication that Kushner and Greenblatt provided much in the way of details on the political plan when they visited.
“I don’t think it’s still set in stone,” she said.
Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East envoy and now a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the U.S. team still has “a lot of work to do to make sure that Arab leaders aren’t surprised by what’s going to be presented, and they need to see it in writing, not verbally.”
But he said secrecy at this point is understandable.
“Holding something very close makes sense and it’s not taken as a negative by the parties, because in the end, if the content isn’t leaking out, it also makes sure that what would be controversial doesn’t create an immediate firestorm. There’s a logic to that,” Ross said.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary Milliken and Howard Goller)
U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph Alles participates in a news conference about "significant law enforcement actions related to elder fraud" in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott
April 8, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the firing of the U.S. Secret Service director, CNN reported on Monday, one day after the resignation of another top national security official, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Trump instructed his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Secret Service Director Randolph Alles, CNN reported, citing multiple administration officials. One official described the firings as “a near-systematic purge” at the Department of Homeland Security.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
A New York City baby sitter was arrested after she stabbed the mother of a child she was hired to care for when the duo got into an argument over pay, reports said.
Miriam Paloma ended up in handcuffs on Monday after she plunged a knife into the 27-year-old mother’s body and slashed her once inside at a Bronx apartment, the New York Post reported.
“I don’t work for free!” Paloma allegedly yelled during the altercation with the mother.
The woman told CBS New York that her two children, a 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy, were in the apartment when Paloma attacked her. She said took shelter after the stabbing by barricading her and her children in a bedroom.
“I didn’t know what to do,” the woman who was stabbed told the news station. “I told her to put the knife down, she wouldn’t put the knife down.”
“Previously she had told me that the agency owed her money, and about two hours later she just came out of nowhere and attacked me with a knife,” she added. “She stabbed me in my back twice, there was blood all over my apartment and children were running back and forth."
Paloma was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with assault, acting in a manner injurious to a child, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.
Liberal comedian Bill Maher celebrated the fact millennials are having less sex because, according to him, the world already has too many people.
On his Friday episode of Real Time, Maher covered a study which found younger Americans are less sexually active, and claimed the world is better off because it’s running out of resources due to overpopulation.
“But instead of asking why America’s young people are having less sex — let’s just be glad they are,” Maher said. “Earth Day is coming up, and I can’t think of a better gift to our planet than pumping out fewer humans to destroy it.”
Citing freshman congresswoman’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) fears the world will soon end, Maher claimed young people are waking up because they realize Earth’s resources won’t be around much longer.
“So it’s no wonder millennials are freaking out about having kids. They and generation Z are waking up en masse to the idea that, way too early in their lifetimes, the planet is going to be a shit show.”
Maher ended the segment by encouraging viewers to masturbate and die.
“So, please, masturbate — don’t procreate. Yank it until Trump is throwing paper towels at you. And remember, the best thing you can do for Earth is not have kids, die, and stay dead.”
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)
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)
KHARTOUM, Sudan – Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.
The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.
Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.
The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.
The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
April 26, 2019
By Charlotte Greenfield
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.
Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.
Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.
In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.
“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.
Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.
The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.
“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.
New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.
He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.
The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University
He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.
“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.
(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
April 26, 2019
(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.
Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.
On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.
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