Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro flashes a heart-hand symbol during a ceremony marking Brazilian Army Day, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, April 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says his administration will soon introduce legislation to make it easier to carry guns in public and to expand protections for people who kill in defense of their lives or property.
The plans announced during the president's Thursday evening internet broadcast would help fulfill his campaign promises, though he gave few details. Bolsonaro has already relaxed some rules on gun purchases.
Brazil strictly limited access to firearms in 2003, but the country remains plagued by violence. Bolsonaro argues that guns will help people defend themselves.
In his words: "You can be sure the bums will think twice before committing a crime, knowing that someone might be armed."
Following attacks by Islamic terrorists that killed hundreds of people in Sri Lanka, BBC News expressed concern for “nervous and afraid” Muslims.
BBC News’ live coverage of the aftermath of the bombings, which primarily targeted Catholic Christians, made a point of highlighting how “Sri Lankan Muslims are left nervous and afraid.”
This would be as absurd as worrying about the safety of white people following the Christchurch mosque massacre.
As we highlighted yesterday, instead of focusing on the perpetrators, some media outlets chose to make the issue about the reaction of the ‘far-right’.
The Washington Post published a story entitled Christianity under attack? Sri Lanka church bombings stoke far-right anger in the West.
Another article published by UK outlet LBC cites an analyst who worries that the Sri Lanka massacre “may lead to further violence against Muslims”.
Given that nearly 800 people, many of them Catholics, have just been killed or injured by Muslim extremists, is anyone concerned about Christians?
FILE PHOTO: A sign is seen on the entrance to a Social Security office in New York City, U.S., July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 24, 2019
By Mark Miller
CHICAGO (Reuters) – (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)
It is one of the most important retirement documents you will ever receive – but fewer Americans are reviewing their Social Security benefit statement nowadays due to cost-cutting and a government push to online services that is falling short.
Until about a decade ago, all workers eligible for Social Security received a paper statement in the mail that provided useful projections of their benefits at various ages, along with reminders on the availability of disability benefits and Medicare enrollment information.
But the Social Security Administration (SSA) decided in 2010 to save money by eliminating most mailings of benefit statements. Instead, we would all be encouraged to obtain this information online.
It is now abundantly clear that this is not working out.
The number of workers accessing their statements online has been just a fraction of those who once were reached by paper statements. And the cost-benefit tradeoff is poor.
Forty-two million Americans have created online accounts with the SSA since they were first offered seven years ago, the agency says, compared with the 155 million paper statements that were mailed in 2010, before the cost-cutting began. Meanwhile, the number of online account-holders who accessed their statements fell dramatically in fiscal 2018, from 96 percent to 43 percent, according to a report issued in February by the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
The report does not speculate on reasons for the fall-off, and the SSA declined to offer its own analysis. “We’ll leave the hypothesizing to others,” said Mark Hinkle, acting press officer.
If you have an online account with the SSA, you will receive an email message three months before your birthday reminding you to review your statement. But the process of logging on can be challenging, partly due to security protections aimed at preventing identity theft and fraud. The security is necessary, but the setup process requires users to go through multiple layers of authentication to prove identity.
Meanwhile, the level of comfort with online technology among older people lags the general population, according to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center. For example, 51 percent of adults aged 65 or older have home broadband, compared with 73 percent of all adults. “We’ve seen the gaps close somewhat, but for the most part the differences haven’t changed much over the past five or six years,” said Monica Anderson, a senior researcher with Pew.
BROADER SHIFT TO ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE
The SSA’s shift to online accounts is part of a broader agency strategy to handle most of its business with the public online by 2025. Yet the statement adoption rates underscore the problem with that strategy. Social Security is a near-universal program, and that means the agency serves many people who are less tech-savvy.
Differences in tech adoption also vary quite a bit by income, education levels and race. Eighty-seven percent of seniors living in households earning more than $75,000 annually told Pew they have home broadband, compared with just 27 percent of seniors whose annual household income is below $30,000.
But the relatively low engagement with statements also might be due to human behavior. “I logged on and set it up the first year it was offered,” said Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a leading research and policy expert on Social Security.
“But do I log on regularly to check my account? Absolutely not – and I’m much more interested in Social Security than most people,” she said. “But that seems deeply normal to me – people are busy and once they’ve logged on once, they don’t bother to do it again. It goes on the back burner.”
Currently, the only people receiving paper statements by mail are those who are over age 60, have not claimed benefits and do not have an online account. That was roughly 13 million people in fiscal 2017, according to the OIG report.
People who review their statements tend to make more optimal decisions claiming benefits. The statement projects your benefit at various ages – and people who review the numbers are far less likely to claim at earlier ages, and more likely to stay in the workforce longer, one recent research paper found. (https://bit.ly/2IzFZPH)
The statement also provides an opportunity to safeguard against the threat of identity theft and fraud by checking your earning history to make sure it looks accurate. “The best way to prevent fraud is for everyone to look every year at the earnings statement to see if everything looks right,” Romig said. (You can sign up for an account here: http://bit.ly/socialsecurityaccount)
How much does the agency save by shifting to online accounts? About $46 million last year, according to the OIG report. That sounds like big money, but it is not significant in the context of the SSA’s overall budget, which is $12.9 billion in fiscal 2019.
The SSA budget has been cut repeatedly over the past decade. That has led to large staff reductions and closing of field offices. Wait times for the public have soared at field offices and on the agency’s toll-free line; there also have been big backups in disability appeals hearings and back-office paperwork processing. (https://nyti.ms/2VXaNge)
For fiscal 2020, the agency has requested a budget of $13.3 billion – a 3.3 percent increase. Notably, the separate budget request from the White House for the agency was to keep the budget nearly flat.
Indeed, Romig argues that the diminished number of people receiving and reviewing Social Security statements is just part of a bigger set of problems besetting the agency. “It’s a good example of why the Social Security Administration needs more money.”
(Reporting and writing by Mark Miller in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognized as the country's rightful interim ruler speaks during a meeting of the Lima Group in Bogota, Colombia, February 25, 2019. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
February 26, 2019
BOGOTA (Reuters) – The Lima Group regional bloc said on Monday that threats have been made against the life of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and the group finds them credible, adding that President Nicolas Maduro was responsible for Guaido’s safety.
The bloc in a statement demanded Maduro immediately leave his post in favor of a democratic transition that includes free elections. Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, speaking on behalf of the group, said there was information about credible threats to Guaido and his family.
Trujillo did not immediately provide evidence for the claims. Guaido has been placed under investigation by Venezuela’s chief prosecutor but unlike some other opposition figures has not been jailed. He was briefly detained by security forces in January.
“We want to hold the usurper Maduro responsible for any violent action against Guaido, against his wife and against their relatives,” Trujillo told reporters.
The United States has targeted Venezuela’s government with new sanctions and called on allies to freeze assets of its state-owned oil company after violence blocked humanitarian aid from the country.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, met in Bogota with members of the 12 Lima Group nations dedicated to peaceful resolution of the crisis. The United States is not a member and the Trump administration has declined to rule out military force.
(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb, writing by Meredith Mazzilli; editing by Cynthia Osterman and James Dalgleish)
FILE - In this June 20, 2018 file photo, Louise Turpin, left, and her husband, David Turpin, right, appear for a preliminary hearing in Superior Court in Riverside, Calif. The couple have pleaded not guilty to child abuse, torture and other charges. A Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 court hearing is set for lawyers to discuss preparations for a Sept. 3 trial for David and Louise Turpin. The Turpins have pleaded not guilty to dozens of felony counts — including torture, willful child cruelty and false imprisonment. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via AP, Pool, file )
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A California couple who shackled some of their 13 children to beds and starved them pleaded guilty Friday to torture and other abuse in a case dubbed a "house of horrors."
David and Louise Turpin pleaded guilty Friday in Riverside County Superior Court to 14 counts that included abusing minor and adult children and imprisoning them in their house that appeared to be neatly kept from the outside in a modest subdivision.
Sentencing was scheduled for April 19.
The couple was arrested in January 2018 when their 17-year-old daughter called 911 after escaping from the family's home in the city of Perris, southeast of Los Angeles.
The children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 at the time, were severely underweight and hadn't bathed for months and the house reeked of human waste.
Investigators said some of the children had stunted growth and wasted muscles and described being beaten, starved and put in cages.
In a recording of the 911 call played in court last year, the girl who escaped said two younger sisters and a brother were chained to their beds and she couldn't take it any longer.
"They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody," she said in a high-pitched voice. "I wanted to call y'all so y'all can help my sisters."
The intervention by authorities marked a new start for the 13 Turpin offspring who lived in such isolation that some didn't even understand the role of the police when they arrived at the house.
Two girls, 11 and 14, had been hastily released from their chains when police showed up, but a 22-year-old son remained shackled.
The young man said he and his siblings had been suspected of stealing food and being disrespectful, a detective testified. The man said he had been tied up with ropes at first and then, after learning to wriggle free, restrained with increasingly larger chains on and off over six years.
Authorities said the children were deprived of food and things other kids take for granted, such as toys and games, and were allowed to do little except write in journals.
An investigator testified that some suffered from severe malnutrition and muscle wasting, including an 11-year-old girl who had arms the size of an infant. The 17-year-old who had difficulty pronouncing some words and spoke like a much younger child.
The kids were rarely allowed outside, though they went out on Halloween and traveled as a family to Disneyland and Las Vegas, investigators said. The children spent most of their time locked in their rooms except for limited meals or using the bathroom.
All the children were hospitalized immediately after they were discovered. Riverside County authorities then obtained temporary conservatorship over the adults.
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says his country wants an end to the war in Yemen.
Speaking after a meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi on Saturday, Rouhani said: "The war in Yemen should finish soon and the solution to the Yemeni crisis should be a political one. "
Tehran supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen who are fighting against a Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government..
Jet Airways aircrafts are seen parked at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
March 29, 2019
By Aditi Shah and Aftab Ahmed
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Jet Airways’ investors are cheering this week’s government-led rescue deal, but the cash-strapped Indian airline’s future looks mired in uncertainty as convincing a new investor to come on board may not be easy.
The airline, which was on the brink of bankruptcy, was bailed out on Monday by state-run banks, which have temporarily taken a majority stake in the company, given it a new loan of $218 million and forced its chairman, Naresh Goyal, to step down from the board of the airline he founded 25 years ago.
Jet shares have rallied 20 percent since news of the rescue on hopes that the airline would now be able to clear salaries, redeploy grounded planes and claw back market share.
Its future is far from certain though, as a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India now rushes to find a new investor and sell its stake in the airline.
This may not be easy especially with Goyal still holding a 25.5 percent share in Jet, which gives him the legal right to block key decisions including raising capital, issuing new shares and diluting equity.
If a deep-pocketed investor is not found soon, Jet may struggle for funds again as the interim loan given by the banks will not last for very long, say lessors and analysts.
“Right now Jet is in survival mode, there is no strategy,” said an executive at one of Jet’s lessors. Jet has been in talks with the lessor since securing the deal but it has given few details on settling pending lease payments and on its turnaround plans, he said.
“The important thing for us to know is if the airline has somebody who is patient, capable and has the financial muscle to revive it,” he said, adding his company is yet to decide whether to keep the aircraft they grounded tied to Jet.
Once India’s leading full service carrier, Jet has struggled to compete with low-cost carriers in recent years. The airline’s market share has nearly halved to 11.4 percent from 21.2 percent in 2016 and it has been forced to ground about two-thirds of its fleet leading to hundreds of flight cancellations.
(For an interactive link on Jet’s market share, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2WvDQYi)
(For an interactive link on Jet’s average daily flights, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2FeFDel)
Indian conglomerate Tata Sons had been in talks to invest in Jet on the condition that Goyal would step down, or take a less prominent role, sources told Reuters in November. While the rescue deal could put Tata back in the race, Goyal’s trimmed stake may still be a problem.
“Are you not creating a huge hurdle for the potential investors?” said a senior government official, reacting to the bank-led bailout in which Goyal still has a stake.
India also wants a domestic investor to replace the banks, which rules out potential deep-pocketed suitors like Qatar Airways but the government-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, whose shareholders also include Abu Dhabi Investment Fund, is still in the fray, sources have said.
State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar has said Goyal would not pose a problem for any incoming investor but also said that the former chairman would be allowed to bid for the banks’ shares when they are auctioned, leaving a window open for the founder to come back.
The bank was not immediately available for comment.
LOST CONFIDENCE
In a fresh sign of its weak financial situation, just days after the bailout, Jet told the Indian stock exchange on Thursday that it had defaulted on an overseas loan due to “temporary liquidity constraints”. Local media reported that it was a loan of $140 million.
Saving the airline is crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he looks to avoid thousands of job losses ahead of a general election.
“This is just a band-aid until the elections,” said a source close to Jet. “We don’t know if this bailout will work,” he said, adding that Jet is like a hot piece of coal for the banks which they want to drop as soon as possible.
Several Jet pilots, who have not been paid for months, have switched airlines, and rival carriers like SpiceJet have been in talks with Jet’s lessors to take some of its grounded planes on lease, a source has told Reuters.
Jet has assured Indian authorities that no more planes will be grounded and that it is in talks with lessors to have a total of 75 planes back in the air by end-April from about 35 today.
“The current funding measures are short term and will not bring much confidence till a new investor is on board,” said Kapil Kaul, India CEO at aviation consulting firm CAPA.
“Process of returning (Jet’s) fleet back to the system might not be easy especially since the aircraft can be deployed easily to other airlines or markets,” said Kaul.
(Additional reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore, Suvashree Choudhury and Tanvi Mehta in Mumbai; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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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