Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Conversations with Kamala


**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**

On the roster: Conversations with Kamala - Buttigieg to join Mr. Sunday for Fox News town hall - Confusion clouds Biden’s 2020 campaign launch - Hogan begins 16 state visit in N.H. Tuesday - Almost paradise

CONVERSATIONS WITH KAMALA
We need to have a conversation about Kamala Harris.

Since her auspicious launch in late January, she has had a series of disappointments, most of which center on her inability to answer straightforward questions. 

In her segment of CNN’s town-hall-a-palooza Monday night, Harris was asked about the position of Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders that the terrorists who killed three and injured more than 250 at the 2013 Boston Marathon should be allowed to vote from prison.

Now, this isn’t a tough one for Sanders. His home state of Vermont allows incarcerated felons to vote, even those convicted of the most serious crimes. Plus, his supporters will love him unconditionally. Sanders runs second in the new Monmouth University national poll out today with 20 percent compared to probably-maybe-definitely-Wednesday-wait-Thursday-somewhere-likely candidate Joe Biden who has the backing of 27 percent of respondents.

Sanders has so far demonstrated no ability to grow his share of the Democratic vote, but neither has he lost any ground. The similarities between Sanders’ and Donald Trump’s own 2016 efforts are many, but the most significant consequence is that like Trump, Sanders has very stable support. It’s hard to see him ever getting a majority of the Democratic vote, but it’s also hard to see him dropping much below his current numbers. 

While Sanders’ views may not be that consequential for him, they will be for the other contenders. Harris walked right off a cliff Monday night following the pied piper of Vermont. 

“I think we should have that conversation,” Harris said when pressed on her vague answer about the general need for restorative justice. Even these monsters who murdered innocents? What does that conversation really look like? 

To give Harris the benefit of the doubt we’re willing to allow that she genuinely is unsure about the matter, strange as that may sound. But coming as it did in the same event when she also threw herself behind Elizabeth Warren’s call for the immediate impeachment of the president we start to get the strong impression that Harris is too eager to tell people what they want to hear. 

South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg showed her up later on when the same question was put to him. “No,” he said. “I do believe that when you are, when you have served your sentence, then part of being restored to society is that you are part of the political life of this nation again and one of the things that needs to be restored is your right to vote.”

Boom.

There’s a reason Harris finds herself tied with Buttigieg in third place in today’s Monmouth poll. Buttigieg is exceeding expectations. She is missing them. 

That’s not to say that there won’t be another moment for Harris, but when that comes she had better have a more complete understanding of the difference between leadership and popularity.

THE RULEBOOK: PENNY PINCHERS
“The money saved from one object may be usefully applied to another, and there will be so much the less to be drawn from the pockets of the people.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 13

TIME OUT: THE GLORY DAYS
Atlantic:Bap. That’s how Damon Runyon, reporting on Game 1 of the 1923 World Series, Giants versus Yankees, for the New York American, records the sound of Casey Stengel connecting with a pitch from ‘Bullet JoeBush. Bat meets ball, the essential atomic encounter—and Runyon puts the sound of it, the briefest, most prodigious syllable, right in the center of his column. Everything leads to it, everything spins out of it. Bap! Writers, those nonjocks, know this moment too. … The surprise and delight of The Great American Sports Page, John Schulian’s selections from a century’s worth of newspaper columns about baseball, boxing, football, gymnastics, and (in one case) swimming the English Channel, is how often it happens—how often the writers connect, how often the prose approaches the condition of flat-out poetry. … That stuff is largely gone now. …Sports commentary in 2019 is forensic, polyphonic, multiplatformed.”

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

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.8 percent
Average disapproval: 52 percent
Net Score: -9.2 points
Change from one week ago: down 0.8 points 
[Average includes: Fox News: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; Monmouth University: 40% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; GU Politics/Battleground: 43% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove.]

BUTTIGIEG TO JOIN MR. SUNDAY FOR FOX NEWS TOWN HALL
Politico: “Fox News will host a town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the network announced Tuesday, making him the third Democrat to sit down with the network at length. Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace will moderate the town hall, which is set for May 19 and will be held in Claremont, N.H. Fox was slow to jump into the 2020 town hall game, hosting its first 2020 town hall earlier this month after ceding much of that territory to its cable rivals CNN and MSNBC, but has rolled out events with three Democratic candidates in the last three weeks. … Buttigieg’s town hall with Wallace will be Wallace’s first of the 2020 cycle. Wallace in 2016 became the first network personality to moderate a general election presidential debate, overseeing the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.”

CONFUSION CLOUDS BIDEN’S 2020 CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
Fox News: “When, where and how Joe Biden announces his long-awaited 2020 presidential bid appears to be up in the air – still. While initial indications pointed to a Wednesday launch, the timing remains in flux, as does the location. At this stage, the only key element that seems to have crystallized is the theme for the campaign rollout. ‘The theme for the announcement is going to be ‘the battle for the soul of America,’’ said a source close to Biden’s inner circle… [Biden] is expected to open … with a message that describes the current climate in the nation and takes on Republican President Trump. … But other details surrounding the launch remain fluid, including where the former vice president goes in the hours and initial days after the declaration of candidacy. A source told Fox News … on Monday evening that plans were in flux and that Thursday appeared to be more likely for Biden’s announcement.”

Will fundraising be his biggest challenge - NYT: “Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is going to have to raise money like he’s never raised money before. …[O]ne of the anxiety-inducing questions hanging over his team of advisers is just how much of former President Barack Obama’s record-setting financial operation Mr. Biden will inherit now that he is setting off on his own for the first time in a decade. It is an urgent task, especially for a politician not previously known as a prolific fund-raiser. His leading rival in the polls, Senator Bernie Sanders, has amassed $26.6 million across his various political committees, including more than $10 million left over from his 2016 presidential run and 2018 re-election in Vermont. Mr. Biden begins at $0, and it would take his raising more than $100,000 every day until Christmas just to match what Mr. Sanders had banked at the start of April.”

Or will it be himself? - Politico: “…Biden is carrying with him nearly a half a century in the major leagues of American politics. When Pete Buttigieg was born, Biden was had been a U.S. senator for almost nine years. He has cast votes on conflicts in Vietnam, Nicaragua, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the confirmation of 12 Supreme Court justices and the impeachment of a president. He’s served in office when opinions on crime, abortion, race and sexuality have changed root and branch. Perhaps Biden’s biggest challenge—apart from his age itself—will be to persuade Democratic voters not to view his past through the prism of the present. It would likelier be a lot easier for Biden if he were a Republican. One of the signal features of the 2016 campaign was the capacity of GOP voters to sweep aside Donald Trump’s past, both his words and his deeds.”

HOGAN BEGINS 16 STATE VISIT IN N.H. TUESDAY
 WaPo: “Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday he is seriously considering a primary challenge to President Trump, adding that the only reason Trump is not facing obstruction charges is that aides thwarted the president. Hogan criticized fellow Republicans in Congress and state houses across the country for not speaking out in the wake of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report, which he called ‘very disturbing’ and ‘unsavory.’ ‘It’s because they’re afraid,’ Hogan told reporters. ‘There’s no profiles in courage here. They’re afraid of being primaried. They’re afraid of being tweeted about.’ … The governor said he’s been approached ‘by a lot of people and a growing number of people’ since his January inauguration about getting into the race, and he plans to visit 16 states in the next few months as he continues to ponder a run. … Tuesday’s comments, made at a must-stop event for presidential candidates, mark the governor’s most decisive remarks about whether he would challenge Trump.”

HOUSE DEMS: NO IMMEDIATE PLANS FOR IMPEACHMENT
WaPo: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers Monday that there are no plans to immediately open impeachment proceedings against President Trump, rejecting calls from several Democrats to initiate steps to try to oust the president. In a rare Monday night conference call, the California Democrat stressed that the near-term strategy in the wake of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report is to focus on investigating the president and seeing where the inquiries lead. Members of Pelosi’s leadership team reaffirmed her cautious approach, according to four officials on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. ‘We have to save our democracy. This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. It’s about saving our democracy,’ Pelosi said. But Pelosi’s message did not go over well with several Democrats, who argued that Congress has a duty to hold Trump to account with impeachment despite the political blowback Pelosi has long feared.”

Harris joins Warren’s call for impeachment - Fox News: “Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif, is the latest presidential candidate to join the call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment following the release of the Mueller Report. During a televised town hall on Monday night, Harvard University student Karla Alvarado asked Harris if congressional Democrats should ‘reconsider’ their position on impeachment, something top leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, has repeatedly dismissed. Harris began by declaring that it’s ‘very clear’ that there is ‘a lot of good evidence’ in the Mueller Report that points to obstruction of justice. And although she still intends on beating Trump in the 2020 election, she expressed that Congress should proceed with impeachment.”

SUPCO HEARS CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION TUESDAY
NPR: “The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a legal battle with lasting implications that could dramatically affect political representation and federal funding over the next decade. The justices are weighing whether to allow the Trump administration to add a question about U.S. citizenship status to forms for the upcoming 2020 census. In multiple lawsuits brought by dozens of states, cities and other groups, three federal judges at U.S. district courts have issued rulings blocking the administration's plans for the question. It asks, ‘Is this person a citizen of the United States?’ All three judges — in New York, California and Maryland — ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to include the question violated procedures for adding new census questions under administrative law.”

Judge Napolitano on census - Fox News: “Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Tuesday that as it stands, the only information that must be disclosed for the census is the total number of people who live in a residence. Napolitano appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ on the same day the Supreme Court was to hear arguments over whether the 2020 census can include a question about citizenship, ensuring a quick review of a lower court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from doing that. ‘The government is looking to acquire information about where people live and where people who are not authorized to be here live because that has a profound effect on federal aid to cities and has a profound effect on members of Congress,’ said Napolitano.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
McConnell vows to be ‘grim reaper’ of socialist Dem proposals - Fox News

Pergram: Why House Dem leaders can't wreck the freshmen's ‘homecoming float’ - Fox News

Trump to meet with Queen Elizabeth II during June state visit - USA Today

John Cornyn to face Air Force vet MJ Hegar in 2020 Texas Senate race - Fox News

AUDIBLE: ‘PLEASE CLAP’ 2020 EDITION
“It’s when you guys are supposed to cheer, okay?” – Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during a CNN town hall on Monday night.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“I agree with your points as to why people are not responding to surveys but you miss the main point: Robo-calls.  I don’t answer a call unless I know who is calling and therefore miss any survey that calls. If those in charge would stop all the needless interruption of Robo-calls they would get more response to their surveys. Those that do so by mail would get more response if they were not asking for money at the end of each survey.” – Tom Hamilton, New Albany, Miss.

[Ed. note: You just unintentionally explained a substantial part of our polling requirements, Mr. Hamilton! Robo-calls to cell phones are forbidden by the FCC and federal law. The ones you are getting now are operating outside of the law and using sophisticated techniques to evade detection – like cloning a number in your area code to increase the chances that you will pick up. That’s why we don’t use pollsters who use robo-calls, like Rasmussen. They can’t call cell phones and have to rely on landlines plus their own system of online surveys to try to compensate for the missing cell phone users. Only live callers can do the job right, and the live callers have to be competent and well-trained for the work. That’s why we tend to avoid partisan polls since the interviewers may have motives beyond just getting honest opinions. The scourge of unwanted robo-calls will be with us as long as we have telephones, but there are new efforts underway for a more intense crackdown on those who are still breaking the rules. We will keep you posted.]     

“I just read your response about Congress spending more time in DC and had to laugh. We have a saying in Texas where our legislature is in session for 140 days every two years: It would be better if they were in session for 2 days every 140 years.” – Pat Conroy, West Lake Hills, Texas

[Ed. note: Zing!]

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

ALMOST PARADISE
AP: “A man who says he fled an Austrian prison over a decade ago has turned himself in to police in Salzburg, telling them he was fed up with living in Spain's Canary Islands. Police said the 64-year-old, carrying two suitcases, went to police at Salzburg's railway station Saturday night and told them he was a fugitive prisoner who had just arrived from Munich Airport. They said in a statement Monday that he told officers he had spent the past 10 ½ years on Tenerife, a popular vacation island, and wanted to return home because ‘Tenerife is not as nice as it used to be and he had lived there long enough.’ Police verified that he had fled a prison in eastern Austria. He was taken to a Salzburg jail.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“There is excellence, and there is greatness — cosmic, transcendent, Einsteinian. We know it when we see it, we think. But how to measure it?” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing for Time magazine on July 1, 2002.

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

0 0

Bank of Japan will scrutinize risks including financial imbalances: deputy governor Amamiya

FILE PHOTO: Masayoshi Amamiya, a nominee for Bank of Japan deputy governor, attends a confirmation hearing in the lower house of parliament in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: Masayoshi Amamiya, a nominee for Bank of Japan deputy governor, attends a confirmation hearing in the lower house of parliament in Tokyo Japan March 5, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

April 17, 2019

TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya said on Wednesday the central bank will scrutinize potential risks to the economy, including signs of financial imbalances, in guiding monetary policy.

“One of the factors that led to Japan’s asset-inflated bubble was the fact we kept monetary policy easy even as the economy continued to expand,” Amamiya told parliament, adding that the BOJ will learn a lesson from the experience.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Source: OANN

0 0

WWII vet turning 100 wants birthday cards from 'around the world'

A World War II veteran turning 100 years old next month is hoping to receive birthday cards from around the U.S. and the world — something he's "always wanted."

Emil Valentine, of Hudson Valley, N.Y., will reach the milestone birthday in April, decades after he served in the Army's 27th Infantry Division, according to Rep. Sean Maloney, D-N.Y.

WORLD WAR II VETERAN GETS 50,000 BIRTHDAY CARDS AFTER DAUGHTER'S PLEA

"Valentine was deployed to the Pacific, where he encountered heavy fighting, was strafed by enemy fire several times on beaches, and was attacked by kamikaze pilots," the congressman's office said in a news release.

Valentine "answered his country's call to serve and now it's our turn," Rep. Sean Maloney said of the veteran.

Valentine "answered his country's call to serve and now it's our turn," Rep. Sean Maloney said of the veteran. (Office of Rep. Sean Maloney)

Maloney is aiding the effort after Valentine's family reached out to his office. The veteran "always wanted birthday cards from around the U.S. and around the world" and Maloney is hoping he'll get the cheerful celebration he deserves.

“Emil answered his country’s call to serve and now it’s our turn," Maloney said in a statement. "I encourage everyone to take the time to send a card to help Emil to celebrate his special day."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Anyone interested in sending a card to Valentine should deliver them by April to:

Emil Valentine

P.O. Box 1001

Rock Hill, NY 12775

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Kim Jong Un visits war memorial following summit with Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has attended a wreath-laying ceremony at a war memorial near the headquarters of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet as he wrapped up his visit to the Russian Far East following a summit with President Vladimir Putin.

Kim arrived at the memorial in Vladivostok on Friday. He took off his fedora and bowed after laying flowers at the memorial as a Russian military band played North Korea's national anthem.

Kim and Putin met on Thursday where the North says they held deep discussions to boost "strategic communication and tactical collaboration" over issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang's state media did not report on any specific agreement on North Korea's nuclear weapons program and sanctions against the North.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Deutsche Bank Australia names new global transaction banking chief

FILE PHOTO: The financial district with the headquarters of Germany's largest business bank, Deutsche Bank , is photographed on early evening in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The financial district with the headquarters of Germany's largest business bank, Deutsche Bank , is photographed on early evening in Frankfurt, Germany, January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo

April 4, 2019

(Reuters) – The Australian arm of Deutsche Bank AG on Thursday named Jennifer Scott-Gray as head of its global transaction banking segment.

Scott-Gray, who will be based in Sydney, is the former global head of trade finance sales at Westpac Institutional Bank, and has worked in treasury and trade services with Citibank.

She will join the German lender in May, and report to the CEO of Deutsche Bank Australia Anthony Miller and Singapore-based David Lynne, who is the chief of fixed income and currencies, APAC.

(Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

0 0

Portugal PM says keeping jobs in party's family not a worry

Portugal's prime minister says it's not a problem that his Cabinet contains a husband and wife, as well as a father and daughter, and insists that the relatives of senior politicians received other government jobs based on merit.

Opposition parties criticized Prime Minister Antonio Costa's Socialist government after Portuguese media reported that along with the family pairs in the Cabinet, other relatives of senior Socialist Party members had gotten government positions.

Costa's administration hasn't been accused of doing anything illegal, but critics say the pattern smacks of nepotism.

The prime minister brushed off the criticism on Thursday, saying he is "sure that nobody in the government was appointed because of their family links."

Costa also noted the criticism emerged in an election year. Portugal's general election is set for October.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Democrat Oversight Will be Weaker Than You Think

House Democrats are finding out how difficult it is to provide Congressional oversight.

Axios reported the White House has figured out there’s not much Democrats can do if the administration continues to say no to everything. The administration has blocked several key administration officials from appearing before the House Oversight Committee.

The Washington Post reported the latest example is the administration’s refusal to allow senior adviser Stephen Miller to testify regarding immigration policy.

Meanwhile, Axios noted that any of those who have actually been subpoenaed by the committee could be held in contempt if they do not appear. But it said the subpoenas are difficult to enforce. And the website said recent contempt cases have “fizzled,

Axios also pointed out President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have filed suit against Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., to block a subpoena for the president’s financial records.

But it said that strategy could have a downside, the website said.

"It totally undercuts the argument that we've been transparent and because there was no criminal wrongdoing that's why we encouraged everyone to cooperate," said a former senior White House official. "Now we look like we've got something to hide and we're not being open and transparent."

Still, the Trump White House is unlikely to face any consequences in the short-term, Axios said.

But one Democratic aide said there are ways of getting past the White House efforts.

“One trend we've been seeing more and more, and a way we can get new information, is from whistleblowers,” the aide said.

Source: NewsMax Politics

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist