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Early tally in Nigerian election puts Buhari ahead, opposition rejects it

INEC officials collate results from various polling units at the INEC Yola North Local Government Area Office in Adamawa State
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials collate results from various polling units at the INEC Yola North Local Government Area Office in Adamawa State, as the country awaits the results of the Presidential election, in Yola, Nigeria February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Nyancho NwaNri

February 25, 2019

By Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah

ABUJA (Reuters) – President Muhammadu Buhari took an early lead on Monday in initial official results from Nigeria’s presidential election but the party of his main challenger quickly rejected the tallies as “incorrect and unacceptable”.

Saturday’s election, which U.S. observers said had lost some credibility after being abruptly delayed by a week by officials citing organizational glitches, was expected to be Nigeria’s tightest since the end of military rule two decades ago.

At stake is the helm of Africa’s top oil producer and biggest economy, rattled by a decade-long battle with Islamist militants in the northeast that has spilled into neighboring countries and prompted the deployment of a regional task force.

Buhari, 76, is a former military ruler seeking a second term on an anti-corruption platform, while Atiku, 72, a businessman and ex-vice president, has pledged above all to expand the role of the private sector.

Initial results released by the national electoral commission (INEC) on Monday put Buhari in the lead. He won in four of Nigeria’s 36 states – two in the southwest, and one each in the east and central parts of the country, INEC said, while Atiku prevailed in the capital Abuja.

In provisional results announced in state capitals but not yet confirmed by INEC, Buhari took the northeastern state of Yobe while Atiku won in Ondo state in the southwest.

Asked about the early results, Buhari told reporters: “I don’t want to depend on rumours…We will rather wait for INEC to announce the (full) results.”

But the chairman of Atiku’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, said the election tallies announced so far were “incorrect and unacceptable”.

“The results are being manipulated and canceled for APC to retain power,” he told reporters, referring to Buhari’s party.

The full outcome, not expected before later in the week, appears to hinge on which man voters trust most to revamp an economy still struggling from a 2016 recession.

A credible and relatively calm vote would open a new chapter in the chequered political history of Nigeria, where nearly six decades of independence have been tarnished by military coups, endemic corruption and secessionist movements.

But doubts rose when the election was postponed on Feb. 16, just hours before it was due to begin, with authorities citing problems in delivering ballot papers and results sheets.

“NEGATIVE EFFECTS”

The week-long delay in holding Nigeria’s presidential election damaged public trust in the process and probably reduced Saturday’s voter turnout, U.S. observers said.

“It is highly probable that such a late postponement had negative effects on voter turnout,” John Tomaszewski of the joint U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute observer delegation, told reporters.

“More significantly, the delay also undermined public confidence in INEC,” he said.

The civil society group YIAGA AFRICA, which monitored the election, projected turnout at 36-40 percent.

Situation Room, a monitoring mission comprising over 70 civic groups, said on Sunday that as many as 39 people had been killed in election-related violence, and over 260 in all since the start of the campaign in October.

Voting, however, took place “in a generally peaceful environment”, said Hailemariam Desalegn, head of the African Union observer mission and a former premier of Ethiopia.

“There were scattered incidents of violence but it was not seen as pervasive on Election Day,” said Derek Mitchell, president of the U.S. observer mission.

Previous Nigerian elections have been marred by violence among supporters of different political parties that at times sparked sectarian conflict. Security forces are currently stretched by the Islamist insurgency as well as by communal violence and banditry in other areas.

Hours before polls opened, explosions rocked Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, epicenter of the insurgency. In neighboring Yobe, residents of the town of Geidam fled a militant attack around the same time.

Scattered violence and problems with smart card readers that authenticate voters’ fingerprints meant voting in a small number of precincts had to put off to Sunday, Mitchell said.

“Serious operational shortcomings put an undue burden on voters,” Maria Arena, the EU’s chief observer and member of the European parliament, told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Paul Carsten; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Child porn suspect detained in US after Ireland extradition

A man once described by an FBI agent as the world's largest "facilitator" of child pornography will remain held in U.S. custody after his extradition from Ireland, a federal magistrate ruled Wednesday.

A federal public defender representing Eric Eoin Marques, 33, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan in Maryland that his client isn't currently challenging his detention, but reserves the right to seek bond later. A preliminary hearing for Marques is scheduled for April 8.

A criminal complaint accuses Marques of operating a web hosting service on the darknet that allowed thousands of users to view and share more than 1 million images of child pornography, including violent sexual abuse of prepubescent children.

The darknet is part of the internet but hosted within an encrypted network. It is accessible only through anonymity-providing tools, such as the Tor browser.

Marques, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland, has remained in custody since his August 2013 arrest in Dublin after an extradition request from the U.S.

During a 2013 bail hearing for Marques in Dublin, FBI Special Agent Brooke Donahue described him as "the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet," according to an article posted Saturday on Irish broadcaster RTE's website. Donahue also testified that Marques had been searching online for information about obtaining a Russian visa and citizenship, RTE reported.

"He was trying to look for a place to reside to make it most difficult to be extradited to the United States," the FBI agent said.

Marques, who arrived in the U.S. last Saturday, fought his extradition for years. Irish authorities didn't charge him with any related crimes.

"That decision was made notwithstanding that (Marques) had offered to plead guilty to at least some of the potential charges that might have been brought against him in Ireland," a justice on the Supreme Court of Ireland wrote in March 20 judgment rejecting his final appeal.

Marques hasn't been indicted by a U.S. grand jury or entered any pleas. The charges in his criminal complaint include conspiracy to advertise child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

The complaint said he was suspected of operating a free, anonymous web hosting service on a network allowing users to access websites without revealing their IP addresses. In July 2013, according to the complaint, FBI agents in Maryland connected to the network and accessed a child pornography bulletin board with more than 7,700 members and more than 22,000 posts.

Agents downloaded more than 1 million files from another website on the network, nearly all of which depicted sexually explicit images of children, the complaint said.

Source: Fox News National

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Scaramucci: Trump's Attacks on McCain 'Stupid,' 'Unnatural'

It is "stupid" for President Donald Trump to keep attacking late Sen. John McCain, and there can be "no positive outcome" from it, former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday.

"When you are attacking dead people, it's not good," Scaramucci told CNN's "New Day." "It's one of the main reasons why you have graveyards and people don't touch the grave yards. They drive by them on the highway and say that's a valuable piece of land but they leave all the caskets inside graves."

Trump again slammed McCain, who died of brain cancer last August, during a speech at an Army tank plant in Lima, Ohio, on Wednesday, after attacking him on Twitter.

"That's an unnatural social act and it will turn people off eventually," Scaramucci said. "I wish he wouldn't do that because he's got so many great things going on, and so many great things about the country and the world that are taking place. Why do that? I just think it's wrong."

He said he does understand Trump's grievances against McCain, including his vote on repealing Obamacare, but added the criticisms are not "scoring any points with anybody."

Scaramucci said he always got along with McCain, and he does not believe veterans, who support Trump by the millions, "are in love" with the president's attacks on the late senator.

"So, he could sit there and try to justify it he may have staff around him that tells him, 'hey, that's great that you're attacking a dead senator,' but I don't think it's great," Scaramucci said.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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The Birth of a Monster

The Federal Reserve’s doors have been open for “business” for one hundred years.

In explaining the creation of this money-making machine (pun intended — the Fed remits nearly $100 bn. in profits each year to Congress) most people fall into one of two camps.

Those inclined to view the Fed as a helpful institution, fostering financial stability in a world of error-prone capitalists, explain the creation of the Fed as a natural and healthy outgrowth of the troubled National Banking System. How helpful the Fed has been is questionable at best, and in a recent book edited by Joe Salerno and me — The Fed at One Hundred — various contributors outline many (though by no means all) of the Fed’s shortcomings over the past century.

Others, mostly those with a skeptical view of the Fed, treat its creation as an exercise in secretive government meddling (as in G. Edward Griffin’s The Creature from Jekyll Island) or crony capitalism run amok (as in Murray Rothbard’s The Case Against the Fed).

In my own chapter in The Fed at One Hundred I find sympathies with both groups (you can download the chapter pdf here). The actual creation of the Fed is a tragically beautiful case study in closed-door Congressional deals and big banking’s ultimate victory over the American public. Neither of these facts emerged from nowhere, however. The fateful events that transpired in 1910 on Jekyll Island were the evolutionary outcome of over fifty years of government meddling in money. As such, the Fed is a natural (though terribly unfortunate) outgrowth of an ever more flawed and repressive monetary system.

Before the Fed

Allow me to give a brief reverse biographical sketch of the events leading up to the creation of a monster in 1914.

Unlike many controversial laws and policies of the American government — such as the Affordable Care Act, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or the War on Terror — the Federal Reserve Act passed with very little public outcry. Also strange for an industry effectively cartelized, the banking establishment welcomed the Fed with open arms. What gives?

By the early twentieth century, America’s banking system was in a shambles. Fractional-reserve banks faced with “runs” (which didn’t have to be runs with the pandemonium that usually accompanies them, but rather just banks having insufficient cash to meet daily withdrawal requests) frequently suspended cash redemptions or issued claims to “clearinghouse certificates.” These certificates were a money substitute making use of the whole banking system’s reserves held by large clearinghouses.

Both of these “solutions” to the common bank run were illegal as they allowed a bank to redefine the terms of the original deposit contract. This fact notwithstanding, the US government turned a blind eye as the alternative (widespread bank failures) was perceived to be far worse.

The creation of the Fed, the ensuing centralization of reserves, and the creation of a more elastic money supply was welcomed by the government as a way to eliminate those pesky and illegal (yet permitted) banking activities of redemption suspensions and the issuance of clearinghouse certificates. The Fed returned legitimacy to the laws of the land. That is, it addressed the government’s fear that non-enforcement of a law would raise broader questions about the general rule of law.

The Fed provided a quick fix to depositors by reducing cases of suspensions of their accounts. And the banking industry saw the Fed as a way to serve clients better without incurring a cost (fewer bank runs) and at the same time coordinate their activities to expand credit in unison and maximize their own profits.

In short, the Federal Reserve Act had a solution for everyone.

Taking a central role in this story are the private clearinghouses which provided for many of the Fed’s roles before 1914. Indeed, America’s private clearinghouses were viewed as having as many powers as European central banks of the day, and the creation of the Fed was really just an effort to make the illegal practices of the clearinghouses legal by government institutionalization.

Why Did Clearinghouses Have So Much Power?

Throughout the late nineteenth century, clearinghouses used each new banking crisis to introduce a new type of policy, bringing them ever closer in appearance to a central bank. I wouldn’t go so far as to say these are examples of power grabs by the clearinghouses, but rather rational responses to fundamental problems in a troubled American banking system.

When bank runs occurred, the clearinghouse certificate came into use, first in 1857, but confined to the interbank market to economize on reserves. Transactions could be cleared in specie, but lacking sufficient reserves, a troubled bank could make use of the certificates. These certificates were jointly guaranteed by all banks in the clearinghouse system through their pooled reserves. This joint guarantee was welcomed by unstable banks with poor reserve positions, and imposed a cost on more prudently managed banks (as is the case today with deposit insurance). A prudent bank could complain, but if it wanted to use a clearinghouse’s services and reap the cost advantages it had to comply with the reserve-pooling policy.

As the magnitude of the banking crisis intensified, clearinghouses started permitting banks to issue the certificates directly to the public (starting with the Panic of 1873) to further stymie reserve drains. (These issues to the general public amounted to illegal money substitutes, though they were tolerated, as noted above.)

Fractional-Reserve Free Banking and Bust

The year 1857 is a somewhat strange one for these clearinghouse certificates to make their first appearance. It was, after all, a full twenty years into America’s experiment with fractional-reserve free banking. This banking system was able to function stably, especially compared to more regulated periods or central banking regimes. However, the dislocation between deposit and lending activities set in motion a credit-fueled boom that culminated in the Panic of 1857.

This boom and panic has all the makings of an Austrian business cycle. Banks overextended themselves to finance the booming industries during America’s westward advance, primarily the railways. Land speculation was rampant. As realized profits came in under expectations, investors got skittish and withdrew money from banks. Troubled banks turned to the recently established New York Clearing House to promote stability. Certain rights were voluntarily abrogated in return for a guarantee on their solvency.

The original sin of the free-banking period was its fractional-reserve foundation. Without the ability to fund lending activity with their deposit base, banks never would have financed the boom to the extent that it became a destabilizing factor. Westward expansion and investment would still have occurred, though it would have occurred in a sustainable way funded through equity investments and loans. (These types of financing were used, though as is the case today, this occurred less than would be the case given the fractional-reserve banking system’s essentially cost-free funding source: the deposit base.)

In conclusion, the Fed was not birthed from nothing in 1913. The monster was the natural outgrowth of an increasingly troubled banking system. In searching for the original problem that set in motion the events culminating in the creation of the Fed, one must draw attention to the Panic of 1857 as the spark that set in motion ever more destabilizing policies. The Panic itself is a textbook example of an Austrian business cycle, caused by the lending activities of fractional-reserve banks. This original sin of the banking system concluded with the birth of a monster in 1914: The Federal Reserve.



Stewart Rhodes and Alex Jones reveal to listeners how lawmakers in the Texas State Government are taking building the wall into their own hands.

Source: InfoWars

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Thailand’s coup maker could face tough transition to civilian leadership

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks during a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting, after the general election, at Government House in Bangkok
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha speaks during a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting, after the general election, at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

March 26, 2019

By Chayut Setboonsarng and Panu Wongcha-um

BANGKOK (Reuters) – For five years, Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-ocha ruled undisputed as the head of a junta that had grabbed power from a democratically elected government – now, he looks poised to become a civilian prime minister himself.

It would likely be a tough transition for the imperious former army chief, who can hope to stay on despite Sunday’s inconclusive general election thanks to changes critics say his government made to skew the parliamentary system in the junta’s favor.

Prayuth will need patience and compromise to work for the first time with an opposition and coalition allies: these are not qualities associated with a leader who, after a career in the military, appears more comfortable with command and control.

His government will have to develop “some significant savvy at parliamentary wheeling and dealing to … govern without resorting to threats,” said Anthony Nelson, director at the D.C.-based advisory firm, Albright Stonebridge Group.

The election came at a sensitive time – just six weeks before the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who assumed the throne after the death of his father, who reigned for 70 years. Any government that emerges will take over after the elaborate May 4-6 coronation.

“Investors will be watching closely the next several months to see if Thailand’s political stability holds through the coronation and the formation of the next cabinet,” Nelson said.

Prayuth’s pro-army party said the former general’s leadership skills will help him adapt to a civilian role.

“He’s a highly merciful person. If he is in a civilian government, you will see him turn over a new leaf. You will see good things from him,” Anucha Nakasai, a board member of the Palang Pracharat party, told Reuters.

NUMBER CRUNCHING

Prayuth’s ambition to extend his rule through the ballot box is not assured. The results of Sunday’s poll are still unclear and although the Palang Pracharat appears to have won the popular vote, there is a chance that it will fall short of the parliamentary seats required to rule.

If Prayuth does make it, his government may be vulnerable to charges that he did so only because of a constitutional change introduced three years ago by the junta that made it very difficult for its opponents to win an election.

His legitimacy won’t be helped by suspicions that the election was manipulated to thwart a party loyal to the junta’s populist nemesis, self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Prayuth will also have to make concessions to coalition partners, whose price for support may be powerful cabinet seats.

His biggest challenge, however, might be in parliament.

He can become prime minister thanks to the near-certain backing of the junta-appointed members of the 250-seat Senate that would give him the overall majority of 376 parliament seats that is required to form a government.

However, his coalition may not command a majority in the 500-strong lower House of Representatives and could be outnumbered by a “democratic front” of opposition parties, the biggest of which will be a Thaksin-linked party.

That would make the government vulnerable to confidence motions brought by the opposition. It would also be recipe for legislative log jams and political deadlock, and potentially a public backlash that triggers renewed social unrest.

The military coup of 2014 ended a decade of street protests by Thaksin’s bitter opponents, the “yellow shirts” of the urban elites and monarchists, and counter-protests by Thaksin’s “red shirt” loyalists.

“Policy-making is likely to become more public and contested,” said Nattabhorn Juengsanguansit, director at Asia Group Advisors, a government relations advisory.

“Unlike during the past five years (when) the cabinet faced little political opposition to proposals, the increased number of stakeholders empowered by the elections will invigorate a public debate on policy directions and force the Palang Pracharat and its allies to publicly defend policy choices.”

She said these factors could delay the passage of a budget and further hold up other projects such as the auction of monopoly concessions for airport duty-free shops and a multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail network.

GRUMPY GENERAL

Prayuth was born in 1954 to a military family in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, and his army career was forged during a turbulent period.

He was in pre-cadet school in 1973 when student protests brought down a military regime, ushering in democratic rule. Three years later, he was at the prestigious Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy when right-wing mobs massacred dozens of left-leaning student protesters leading to another military takeover.

In the military, Prayuth was known for decisiveness and devotion to the revered monarchy. He rose in the ranks to become army chief, and in 2014 staged Thailand’s 13th successful coup.

His reputation for testiness came almost immediately.

Thais became accustomed to their junta leader losing his temper in public: he once threatened to throw a podium during a press briefing, and another time mused that he could “probably just execute” a roomful of reporters.

But he did display a softer side heading into the election.

He appeared on state television cooking a chicken curry for villagers and riding a tractor with farmers, and a ballad that he wrote himself played repeatedly on the radio.

However, Joshua Kurlantzick of the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations said that Prayuth’s track record – repression of opponents, an intolerance of criticism and a failure to understand the role of the media – suggested he would struggle to adapt to “a somewhat democratic setting”.

(Writing by John Chalmers and Kay Johnson; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: OANN

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Endgame 2019: Democracy Of Genocide

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Florida officer shoots man armed with knife

Authorities say a police officer fatally shot a man with a knife at a Florida gas station.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief Chris Butler said at a news conference that a veteran officer shot 38-year-old Jerry Marrero on Thursday.

Officials say a gas station employee called 911 reporting an aggressive man with a knife. Butler says Officer R.C. Santoro arrived, found the armed man behind a counter and repeatedly told him to get on the ground.

Butler says Santoro fired six times when the man moved toward the officer. Marrero died at a hospital.

Records show Marrero has a history of assault and kidnapping charges, as well as being placed on an involuntary psychological hold.

Officials didn't report the races of the officer or suspect. Santoro was placed on administrative leave.

Source: Fox News National

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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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