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Barr says Muller-approved final report within a week


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On the roster: Barr says Muller-approved final report within a week - Trump, unbound, readies immigration blitz - Bernie dissents from many Dems on filibuster - Audible: it me - Wait. What did you say the fire chief’s name was?

BARR SAYS MULLER-APPROVED FINAL REPORT WITHIN A WEEK
Fox News: “Attorney General Bill Barr vowed Tuesday to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report ‘within a week,’ as he pushed back at Democrats blasting him… ‘Right now the special counsel is working with us. This process is going along very well and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands,’ Barr testified. ‘From my standpoint, within a week, I will be in a position to release the report to the public and then I will engage with both chairmen of Judiciary Committees on any requests that they have.’ Barr said that he identified four areas of the report that he believed should be redacted, including grand jury material, information the intelligence community believes would reveal intelligence sources and methods, any material that could interfere with ongoing prosecutions, and information that could implicate the privacy or reputational interests of ‘peripheral players.’”

Trump back on the attack against Mueller - AP: “President Donald Trump took a victory lap after special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his Russia investigation. It may have been premature. … Now that the American public will get a look at details beyond the four-page investigation summary … some Trump allies are concerned that the president was too quick to declare complete triumph and they’re pushing the White House to launch a pre-emptive attack. Trump seems to be of the same mind. … With the goal to discredit what’s coming, Trump and his allies have unleashed a series of broadsides against Mueller’s team and the Democrats pushing for full release of the final report. No longer is the president agreeing that Mueller acted honorably, as he did the day after the special counsel’s conclusions were released. Instead, he’s joining his allies in trying to undermine the integrity of the investigators and the credibility of their probe.”

TRUMP, UNBOUND, READIES IMMIGRATION BLITZ 
NYT: “President Trump’s purge of the nation’s top homeland security officials is a sign that he is preparing to unleash an even fiercer assault on immigration, including a possible return of his controversial decision last summer to separate migrant children from their parents, current and former administration officials said Monday. Mr. Trump shook up the ranks of his top immigration officials after spending months … seething about what he considers their overly legalistic refusals to do what he has said was necessary. That anger was underscored on Monday when a judge blocked Mr. Trump’s efforts to force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases proceed — a practice that immigration advocates called inhumane and illegal. Judge Richard Seeborg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that existing law did not give Mr. Trump the power to enforce the policy, known as ‘migrant protection protocols.’”

Grassley warns White House - WaPo: “The most senior Senate Republican is warning the White House not to oust another top immigration official, making appeals to the administration against dismissing Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, amid a purge of Homeland Security leaders. In an interview with The Washington Post, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he was ‘very, very concerned’ regarding reports that Cissna could be next in a series of rapid-fire DHS dismissals that began late last week when the White House suddenly pulled the nomination of Ronald Vitiello, who had been tapped as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ‘One, those are good public servants,’ Grassley said Monday evening, after rumors of Cissna’s potential exit percolated all day.”

Roberts cautions: Kobach can’t be confirmed for immigration post - Kansas City Star: “One of the GOP senators from Kris Kobach’s home state said Tuesday that the Senate would not be able to confirm the Kansas Republican if President Donald Trump tapped him for a cabinet post. Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, has been mentioned as a potential candidate for an array of immigration-related positions after President Donald Trump pulled his nominee for the director of Immigration Customs Enforcement and announced the departure of his secretary of Homeland Security. But Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, doesn’t believe the Republican-controlled Senate could confirm his fellow Kansan, who has gained national notoriety for championing stronger restrictions on immigration. ‘Don’t go there. We can’t confirm him,’ Roberts whispered to The Kansas City Star when asked about Kobach Tuesday on his way into a Senate vote.”

THE RULEBOOK: READY FOR ACTION
“The perpetual menacings of danger oblige the government to be always prepared to repel it; its armies must be numerous enough for instant defense.” – Alexander HamiltonFederalist No. 8

TIME OUT: ‘LIFE IS A CABARET, OLD CHUM’
Atlantic: “Forty years ago, the director-choreographer Bob Fosse made All That Jazz, his semiautobiographical meta-statement on the meaning of life, death, dance, love, and the ecstatic, addictive emptiness of show business. … It won four Academy Awards and the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. So any filmmaker daring enough to dramatize Fosse’s actual life story for the screen could fairly be said to face a daunting challenge… For a platinum-pedigreed team of Broadway veterans—led by the writer Steven Levenson (librettist of Dear Evan Hansen) and the director Thomas Kail (of Hamilton)—the answer is a sprawling, eight-episode limited series, Fosse/Verdon, which debuts on FX this month. It tells the tortured tale not just of Fosse, but also of his 30-year artistic and emotional collaboration with his dance partner, third wife, and too-often-unsung muse, Gwen Verdon. … Levenson said, after digging into Fosse, [SamWasson’s authoritative 2013 biography … ‘Bob Fosse presented his story the way he wanted it presented, and he had a very clear editorial angle…’”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval: 
41.6 percent
Average disapproval: 53 percent
Net Score: -11.4 points
Change from one week ago: down 1.2 points 
[Average includes: IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; NPR/PBS/Marist: 44% approve - 50% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 43% approve - 53% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 39% approve - 55% disapprove; Pew Research Center: 41% approve - 55% disapprove.]

BERNIE DISSENTS FROM MANY DEMS ON FILIBUSTER  
HuffPo: “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, said on Saturday that while he believes the filibuster process needs some reform, he doesn’t want to get rid of it. And people who do should be wary. ‘Donald Trump supports the ending of the filibuster. So you should be a little bit nervous if Donald Trump supports it,’ he told HuffPost in a sit-down interview before a town hall.  Getting rid of the filibuster ― which requires most significant legislation to get 60 votes, rather than just a majority, for passage ― has been bubbling up as a big issue on the 2020 campaign trail. Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued the most high-profile call to get rid of it. Pointing to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) blockade and slow-walk of many of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees…”

California man says he too is running for president - LAT: “Eric Swalwell, a four-term Bay Area congressman who’s grown into a cable TV fixture as a slashing and unremitting critic of President Trump, formally announced Monday his long-shot bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Fittingly, he chose national television as the venue to declare his intent, saying on CBS’ ‘Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ he would ‘go big on the issues we take on, be bold in the solutions we offer and do good in the way we govern.’ Swalwell, 38, has essentially been running for president for the better part of the last two years. Still, he will have to work to distinguish himself in a crowded field approaching 20 contestants. He is neither the youngest candidate nor the only millennial in the Democratic race … and he shares his Northern California political base with Sen. Kamala Harris, a former district attorney across the bay in San Francisco.”

Klobuchar misses the top tier on fundraising - Politico: “Sen. Amy Klobuchar raised more than $5.2 million for her presidential bid since launching her campaign in mid-February, trailing behind top contenders for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Amy for America, Klobuchar's campaign committee, announced Monday that it finished the first quarter of the year with $7 million in the bank after adding in an additional $3 million that Klobuchar raised for her Senate campaign last year. … Unlike some Democratic candidates, Klobuchar's campaign has solicited money for the general election at some fundraisers, which means she can't spend all of the money she raised during the primary. Klobuchar's campaign did not outline how much general election money she raised during the first quarter.”

How Twitter gets it twisted - NYT: “Perhaps the most telling poll of the Democratic primary season hasn’t been about the Democratic primary at all — but about the fallout from a 35-year-old racist photo on a yearbook page. … Yet the majority of ordinary Democrats in Virginia said Mr. [RalphNortham should remain in office, according to a Washington Post/Schar School poll a week later. … Today’s Democratic Party is increasingly perceived as dominated by its ‘woke’ left wing. But the views of Democrats on social media often bear little resemblance to those of the wider Democratic electorate. The outspoken group of Democratic-leaning voters on social media is outnumbered, roughly 2 to 1, by the more moderate, more diverse and less educated group of Democrats who typically don’t post political content online, according to data from the Hidden Tribes Project. This latter group has the numbers to decide the Democratic presidential nomination in favor of a relatively moderate establishment favorite, as it has often done in the past.”

Tim Miller: ‘Joe Biden Deserves Better Than This’ - The Bulwark: “In a convergence of the tribalistic crazy that has infected our politics, the former vice president has managed to find himself a target … But here’s the thing about these critics, left and right: Vanishingly few of them seem to sincerely believe that Biden’s enthusiastic shoulder rubbing would inhibit him from being a successful president. Their real complaints with him are along much different vectors: That he is a ‘neoliberal capitalist’ (the Bernie bros); or that there are women or people of color who are better options (intersectional progressives); or that he’s a liberal who needs to be owned (Trump supporters). In a way, this isn’t surprising. … We’re long past the point where people try to convince others of the rightness of their arguments. These days, people don’t even really believe their own arguments. They’re just trying to score points, or get retweets, or whatever.”

Booker bags an endorsement - Politico: “Cory Booker isn’t soaring in the national polls or in the 2020 fundraising race. Still, the New Jersey senator is quietly making early presidential state inroads. On Monday, Booker captured his first legislative endorsement in New Hampshire when state Sen. Jon Morgan gave him his official backing. Morgan has met numerous 2020 candidates and attended recent campaign events for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney. But he said Booker’s message, which centers on uniting a deeply divided nation, is what most resonated with him. … Booker has made an early investment in New Hampshire, marked by multiple trips to stump and fundraise for local candidates — including Morgan — in the 2018 midterm elections. Booker raised more money for New Hampshire Democrats than any other national Democrat…”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Voter intensity equally matched, already at near-election levelsGeorgetown University

Pergram: Senate pays tribute to former Sen. Fritz Hollings Fox News

Book claims Joe Crowley had dirt on Ocasio-Cortez, but chose to not use it in campaign - NY Post

Trump, Jerry Nadler feud goes back decades to a New York real estate project - WaPo

Report: Mass shootings had little effect on voting in the affected communities - WaPo

Netanyahu seeks fifth term in Israel’s election Tuesday - The Guardian

Policy, not investigations dominate at House Dem retreat - WaPo

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s finances under scrutiny - Forbes

AUDIBLE: IT ME
“Are you here to see Beto?” – University of Iowa student, Matthew Rowland, unknowingly asked Beto O’Rourke while making small talk while washing their hands in the men’s room ahead of O’Rourke’s speech on Sunday at the university.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

WAIT. WHAT DID YOU SAY THE FIRE CHIEF’S NAME WAS?
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “A raging fire in a commercial marijuana grow-op forced the evacuation of part of downtown Squamish for a period of time Monday morning. No one was hurt, and the fire was contained to the single warehouse in the 37000-block of Third Street. ‘When we arrived on scene, the building was fully engulfed,’ said Squamish Fire Chief Bill Stoner. ‘We had heavy smoke coming out all sides of the building so we went on the defensive and it was probably two hours until we had it under control.’ According to Stoner, smoke from the blaze did not smell like burning weed. ‘There were a lot of other things burning in that building as well,’ he said. Huge plumes of dark smoke were seen billowing into the sky over Squamish at the height of the fire, and residents to the south of the building were asked to evacuate briefly because of air quality concerns.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
[Mitch McConnell is] the ultimate Senate tactician. He knows the rules. He knows how to get around things.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) speaking on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Feb. 16, 2016.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Terminally ill Wisconsin girl who loves dogs visited by nearly 40 K-9 officers

A young Wisconsin girl with an inoperable brain tumor and a love of dogs experienced quite the day when nearly 40 K-9 officers visited her at home.

In January, 7-year-old Emma Mertens was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare brain tumor, as Fox 6 reported. Soon after her diagnosis, Mertens asked people for photos of their dogs.

During the time since, Mertens, of Hartland, roughly 25 miles west of Milwaukee, has received countless letters and photos from friends and supporters trying to cheer her up.

And on Saturday, she received an even bigger act of kindness when K-9 officers with the police force in Hartford — north of Hartland — stopped by her house.

"Today, just a few of us (roughly 40) stopped by to see Emma," the department wrote in a Facebook post. "She had no idea we were coming so she was VERY excited. What an amazing and strong little girl. It was such a great morning."

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Photos of the happy day show the officers and the K-9s lined up to see Mertens. Her family wrote online that," There are no words....Pure Joy!" in response to the 7-year-old's special visit.

"Thank you to everyone who took the time to organize and participate in this. Emma is still all smiles! Over 35 different departments and many more K9s and officers," her family wrote.

Source: Fox News National

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Buildings shake, schools evacuated as quake hits east Taiwan

A major road in the centre of Taipei is seen damaged after an earthquake in Taipei
A major road in the centre of Taipei is seen damaged after an earthquake in Taipei, Taiwan April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

April 18, 2019

TAIPEI (Reuters) – An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck Taiwan’s coastal city of Hualien on Thursday, shaking buildings and temporarily suspending subway services in the capital Taipei, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Local television footage showed school children being evacuated from buildings, while a weather bureau official said it was the largest quake to hit the island so far this year.

A large crack could be seen in the center of a road in Taipei’s eastern district of Xinyi, the city’s financial hub.

The quake hit at a depth of 18 km (11 miles), the Central Weather Bureau said.

No other details were immediately available.

The central government said it had set up a disaster reaction center.

The United States Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 6.4, adding that it struck at a depth of 15 km (9 miles) from Hualien.

Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers its own, lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes.

More than 100 people were killed in an earthquake in the island’s south in 2016, and a quake of 7.6 magnitude killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.

(Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Climate group’s attempt to ‘shut down’ London Heathrow airport fails after only a few handfuls of people show up

A climate activist group’s reported vow to “shut down” Europe’s busiest airport Friday turned into a flop when only a few handfuls of people showed up – and were quickly surrounded by police officers.

Videos circulating on social media showed British cops standing in a ring around activists from the Extinction Rebellion group, while cars streamed a few feet away – undeterred -- into London’s Heathrow airport. The group, which has snarled traffic and public transit in the U.K.’s capital this week through a series of blockades and protests, has been trying to force the British Parliament into accepting their climate action-related demands.

“Tomorrow we raise the bar. We are going to shut down Heathrow,” the group reportedly told its followers Thursday, according to the LBC radio station.

Yet only a small number, estimated to be less than 20 – and all of which Extinction Rebellion claims were under the age of 17 years old -- made it out to the airport Friday. Some, in a video the group streamed on Facebook, were in tears after the police arrived.

BRITISH COPS FILMED DANCING WITH CLIMATE PROTESTERS ARE BLASTED BY THEIR BOSSES FOR ‘UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR’

“I shouldn’t be here, I should be revising for my end-of-year exams,” Talia Woodin, a university student, told The Guardian newspaper. “But I have to be here. What good is a degree if there is a possibility that there is no future?”

“I’m Mia, I’m 13,” Extinction Rebellion’s website quoted another teen as saying. “I’m doing this because something has to change, I’m being told to make decisions about my future when it can’t even be guaranteed the Earth has one.”

Police surround environmental protestors near Heathrow Airport in London on Friday.

Police surround environmental protestors near Heathrow Airport in London on Friday. (AP)

As of late Friday afternoon at Heathrow, traffic was still flowing smoothly. It’s not clear if the protesters have anything planned for later in the evening.

But London is where they have had greater success drawing attention to their demands, which include that British Parliament “act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025,” while also pushing Parliament to “create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.”

The Metropolitan Police said as of Friday morning, 570 arrests linked to the protests have been made.

“The protesters are using tactics of lying on the ground when approached,” the police said in a statement. “This means that it takes at least four officers to remove one person to ensure their safety, which is resource intensive.”

Police arrest protesters at Oxford Circus in London on Friday.

Police arrest protesters at Oxford Circus in London on Friday. (AP)

Police officials have also decided to cancel officers’ scheduled vacation days in order to be able to have all hands on deck this Easter weekend to deal with the ongoing demonstrations.

The Metropolitan Police say “we have now asked officers on the boroughs to work 12-hour shifts; we have cancelled rest days and our Violent Crime Task Force have had their leave cancelled. This allows us to free up significant numbers of officers whilst responding to local policing.”

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Protesters chained themselves onto a boat in Oxford Circus in London on Friday as part of the ongoing climate action-related demonstrations. (AP)

Protesters chained themselves onto a boat in Oxford Circus in London on Friday as part of the ongoing climate action-related demonstrations. (AP)

One person on Twitter who identified herself as a British police officer lamented the decision, while also chiding the protesters for the effects of their actions, which some have said aren’t so environmentally-friendly.

“My valuable #Easter holiday with my family, who I haven’t been able to see in a while, is now not happening because my rest days have been cancelled for the protests,” she tweeted. “To make it worse, because of the start time I have to drive to work, therefore increasing my carbon footprint.”

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. congressional leaders wants Google to answer questions on ‘Sensorvault’ database

The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London
FILE PHOTO: The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London, Britain January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

April 23, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrats and Republicans on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday wrote Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai raising concerns about reports of a massive database of precise consumer location information on hundreds of millions of consumers known as “Sensorvault.”

The letter seeks a briefing and answers on how this information is used and shared, citing a New York Times report that the database includes nearly every consumer with an Android mobile device, in some cases storing information dating back to 2009. Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent, did not immediately comment. Members of Congress have raised other privacy concerns about how Google uses consumer information.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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Government Spending: A Horror Story

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That 90% of Silicon Valley start-ups fail is often mentioned in these columns, and it’s in many ways the theme of my upcoming book, They’re Both Wrong. Investor and writer Andy Kessler alerted me to the number, and it’s one that anyone aiming to understand economics should internalize.

The 90% number is a reminder that bad ideas in Silicon Valley quickly fail. The Valley’s immense wealth isn’t an effect of constant success; rather it’s a certain consequence of persistent failure that forces constant learning and improvement. What makes no sense dies with great rapidity in northern California, so that good ideas can be born.

The truth about Silicon Valley’s economics is an inconvenient one for members of the right convinced that the center of technological innovation is a hive of socialists. Please. The latter is a myth that the overly sensitive have chosen to focus on in order to promote their alarmist narrative about the U.S. going the way of Venezuela, or Greece, or Zimbabwe.

Just the same, the Valley’s relentlessly capitalist ways similarly mock members of the left who defend government spending as compassionate. No, it’s waste. Plain and simple. All wealth is initially created in the private sector, and government spending is the wasteful consequence. We know it’s wasteful because we know that bad ideas in government almost never die. What’s mindless persists. Government is the polar opposite of superrich Silicon Valley.

Let’s never forget that all government workers used to not be government workers. And all money that funds government activity used to not be held by government until politicians taxed it away for political consumption. Stated simply, government spending is the private sector minus merit, and minus the persistent failure and possibility of failure without which talent and innovation cannot be realized.

While what fails in the private sector is mothballed, what belly flops in the governmental sphere is frequently rewarded with more taxpayer funds. That’s why government waste is a first order redundancy. Of course it's waste. Absent the possibility of investor withdrawal whereby what makes no sense is rapidly starved of resources, what’s ridiculous just grows and grows.

Which brings us to a front page Wall Street Journal article from Tuesday. Even though airplanes can transport passengers from Chicago to St. Louis in less than 1 hour, Amtrak (our national train service) has a train route in place that can similarly transport passengers between the two cities. The problem is that what takes less than an hour by plane takes 5 ½ hours by train. Sadly, the Amtrak story gets worse.

As the Journal went on to report, “a fast-rail project is under way in Illinois.” It’s hard not laugh while typing, but this project will push the top speed of Amtrak trains traveling from Chicago to St. Louis up to 110 miles per hour, thus “shaving just an hour” off a trip that as previously mentioned takes 5 ½ hours. Fear not, the story gets even worse.  

You see, $2 billion was spent so that Amtrak trains traveling between STL and Chicago would take 4 ½ hours instead of 5 ½. Unsurprisingly, this non-improvement isn’t or won’t impress passengers. The present expectation is that, assuming top speeds of 110 mph, “the share of people who travel between the two cities by rail could rise just a few percentage points.” On its own, American Airlines already flies seven times per day from Chicago to St. Louis. In an hour.  

So while there are countless stories and lessons about the folly of government spending, the waste of $2 billion on something that makes no economic sense loudly exposes the horrors of Congress controlling so much of the wealth first created in the real world. The waste is monstrous. And this is just Amtrak. Ideally the Amtrak story instructs.

Ideally it’s a reminder that with government spending, it’s not a Democrat or Republican thing. Politicians exist to spend, so the cost of government grows and grows regardless of the Party in charge.

Readers would be wise to consider how the money is spent. The federal government costs close to $4 trillion each year, and with Amtrak in mind, readers might imagine all the other waste taking place across various federal programs. Crucial here is that the nearly $4 trillion used to be in the private sector.

Now it’s not, which means close to $4 trillion is annually allocated by politicians in obnoxiously obtuse fashion. That it’s misallocated is a blinding glimpse of the obvious. When failure doesn’t inform one’s actions, the inevitable result is economy-sapping waste.

It cost Amtrak $2 billion to “improve” service that was never necessary, while $500,000 was all it took for Peter Thiel to purchase 10 percent of Facebook in 2004. With the long history of nosebleed federal spending very much in mind, how many Facebooks have been suffocated by government waste that economists laughably tell us stimulates economic growth?

This is not a partisan issue. It’s one of common sense. Government, whether run by Republicans or Democrats, can only mis-appropriate what’s precious. Sane people on each side should energetically oppose the falsehood that is “government spending” simply because it’s not government spending.

"Government spending" is a horror story that cannot be stressed enough simply because it has everything to do with suffocating the amazing under the gargantuan weight of what has to be flamboyantly dumb by virtue of failure informing none of it. Call "government spending" what is: freedom-sapping economic contraction that robs us of trillions worth of experimentation necessary to employ us much better, improve our living standards, and substantially elongate our lives. 

John Tamny is a speechwriter and writer of opinion pieces for clients, he's editor of RealClearMarkets, Director of the Center for Economic Freedom at FreedomWorks, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com). His new book is The End of Work, about the exciting explosion of remunerative jobs that don't feel at all like work.  He's also the author of Who Needs the Fed? and Popular Economics. He can be reached at jtamny@realclearmarkets.com.  

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Oil prices slide on concerns of sharp economic slowdown

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada on July 21, 2014. REUTERS/Todd Korol/File Photo/File Photo

March 25, 2019

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices kicked off the week’s trading with losses as concerns of a sharp economic slowdown outweighed supply disruptions from OPEC’s production cutbacks and U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

Brent crude oil futures were at $66.79 per barrel at 0022 GMT, down 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $58.68 per barrel, down 37 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their last settlement.

“Inflation expectations have risen,” said U.S. bank Morgan Stanley.

“Estimates for growth and earnings have been revised down materially across all major regions.”

ANZ bank said the darkening economic outlook “overshadowed the supply-side issues” the oil market was facing amid supply cuts led by producer club OPEC as well as the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-affiliated allies such as Russia, together referred to as ‘OPEC+’, have pledged to withhold around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil supply this year to prop up markets, with OPEC’s de-facto leader seen to be pushing for a crude prices of over $70 per barrel.

GRAPHIC: Russia, Saudi & Rest of OPEC crude oil production: https://tmsnrt.rs/2CHr9lJ

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Source: OANN

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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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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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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.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
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)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
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.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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