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Watch Live: Democrats Call For Gun Confiscation In Response To Trump’s National Emergency Declaration

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Source: InfoWars

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Fearing austerity, Lebanese protest ahead of budget

Retired army officers hold Lebanese flags as they block a highway during a protest in Naameh, south of Beirut
Retired army officers hold Lebanese flags as they block a highway during a protest in Naameh, south of Beirut, Lebanon April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

April 16, 2019

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese government has yet to disclose its budget for 2019 but protesters are already in the streets fearing the “difficult and painful” reforms it is expected to announce as it tries to get spending in control and rein in public debt.

Retired army officers blocked several highways with burning tires on Tuesday, a preemptive warning to the government against any cuts to their pensions that might be part of its effort to reduce one of the world’s heaviest public debt burdens.

Though small, the protests offered a glimpse of the political minefield facing the government.

The budget is seen as a critical test of its will to enact long-stalled reforms that economists say are more pressing than ever for an economy that has suffered years of low growth. State finances are strained by a bloated public sector, high debt servicing costs and hefty subsidizes spent on the power sector.

“We went out today to tell them that our pensions are a red line,” said Khaled Ammar, one of a number of retired officers blocking the highway south of Beirut.

The budget has yet to be finalized but speculation it will include cuts to the massive public wage bill has grown since Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil hinted at such steps on Saturday.

“There are those who should be making people aware today that if a temporary reduction doesn’t happen, then there will be no salaries for anyone,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that “if we must start with the ministers and MPs, so be it”.

Protesters said tackling corruption should be the priority.

“If the economic condition of the country has reached this difficult level … we are not responsible for it, the politicians are,” said Ammar, a father of three who served in the military for three decades.

BLOATED PUBLIC SECTOR

Lebanese leaders have been warning of economic crisis for some time. In a February policy statement, the new government committed itself to launching fast and effective reforms that could be “difficult and painful” to avoid a worsening of economic, financial and social conditions.

Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said last week he was concerned about a Greek-style crisis in Lebanon while saying that government measures would prevent “economic problems”.

At a Paris conference last year, Lebanon promised to cut its budget deficit by 1 percent of gross domestic product a year over five years. Economists are now looking for a bigger cut because last year’s deficit was bigger than expected at between 10-1/2 to 11 percent of GDP instead of a projected 8.2 percent.

Serious reforms would help Lebanon unlock some $11 billion in financing pledged in Paris.

The government last week approved a plan to overhaul the power sector – a major drain on state finances for years. Critics say the government must deliver this time, pointing to previous such plans that were never implemented.

The public sector wage bill is the state’s biggest outgoing, followed by servicing the public debt equal to around 150 percent of GDP. The wage bill went up in 2017 after increases were agreed ahead of a parliamentary election.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Lebanon’s Byblos Bank, hopes to see the deficit brought down by 2 percent of GDP and says reforms should include shutting down the many obsolete government agencies.

“They have to freeze hiring, freeze future salary increases, and increases in benefits, and they have to cut the number of public sector employees and restructure the way companies restructure when they are in financial difficulties,” he said.

“The public sector has recruited 31,000 people over the last four years – more than the entire financial sector.”

(Reporting by Tom Perry, Amina Ismail, Laila Bassam; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Red Cross says Mozambique's Beira port hard hit by cyclone

The Red Cross says that as much as 90 percent of Mozambique's central port city of Beira has been damaged or destroyed by tropical Cyclone Idai.

Officials with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Monday that Beira has been severely battered by the cyclone which cut off electricity and road access to the city of 500,000. The city's airport has been closed by the storm.

Cyclone Idai first hit Beira last week and then moved inland spreading heavy winds and rainfall to Zimbabwe and Malawi. Red Cross and government officials estimate that more than 150 people have been killed by the storm, hundreds more are missing and more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the widespread destruction and flooding.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump’s North Korea envoy Biegun: a capable man in an impossible job?

FILE PHOTO: Stephen Biegun the US special representative for North Korea returned to South Korea after visiting Pyongyang
FILE PHOTO: US special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (R), shakes hands with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon (L) prior to their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea 09 February 2019. KIM MIN-HEE/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

February 23, 2019

By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Days before a second U.S.-North Korea summit, much rests on the shoulders of a former auto executive trying to find common ground between an American president seeking a big foreign policy win and a North Korean leader who seems unlikely to hand him one.

Stephen Biegun, named Donald Trump’s special envoy for North Korea six months ago, flew to Hanoi ahead of the Feb. 27-28 meeting in the Vietnamese capital where Trump hopes to get closer to his goal of persuading Pyongyang to give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States.

In meetings with his North Korean counterpart, Biegun, a 55-year-old former Ford Motor Co executive, aims to hammer out a joint summit statement showing concrete progress beyond vague commitments agreed by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their first meeting in June.

It’s a tall order, even for someone accustomed to tough assignments.

Before joining Ford as head of international government relations, Biegun was handed the job of giving Sarah Palin a crash course in foreign policy when she was John McCain’s 2008 presidential running mate.

Such experience could prove helpful in explaining what is achievable to Trump, who came into office similarly lacking in diplomatic experience and has set his sights on North Korea as one issue he can tout as a major success that has eluded his predecessors.

While Biegun worked for decades as congressional staffer and as a White House foreign policy aide under President George W. Bush, his latest appointment was initially greeted with skepticism, given he was primarily a Russia specialist with little exposure to the complex North Korea problem.

But several North Korea experts who have since advised Biegun told Reuters they have been struck by how methodical he was in taking the time to talk to as many of them as possible and described him as a quick learner.

Nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico who is among those who has met Biegun, said was encouraged by the way Biegun had made up for his lack of specialist knowledge by seeking out the right people.

“What he’s been doing is learning and gathering things. I’m impressed by what he’s done – he’s got good advisers.” 

A 16-member team Biegun took with him to Pyongyang for three days of talks earlier this month included missile experts, nuclear experts and specialists in international law.  

A Capitol Hill staffer whose Democratic Party has been critical of Trump’s personal approach to North Korea, said Biegun’s attitude appeared “much more realistic than what we’ve heard from the administration thus far.”

“He really stands head and shoulders above the rest … and comes to this a with a relatively fresh set of eyes, and as someone who isn’t making old assumptions but also who isn’t making the wrong assumptions.”

Biegun has also won admirers in South Korea, where one former senior diplomat said he clearly had experience in handling complex issues and knew how Washington works. “Among all the nuclear envoys I’ve seen for decades, he must be the weightiest,” he said.

However, it will take more than intelligence, gravitas, an open mind and political savvy to convince North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons program its ruling family has long seen as essential to its survival.

Biegun has avoided formal media interviews, but did deliver a wide-ranging speech at Stanford University on Jan. 31, when he admitted that despite months of U.S.-North Korea talks, the two sides still had no agreed definition of the term “denuclearization.”

And in spite of Trump’s declaration after the last summit that the nuclear threat from North Korea was over, the country has yet to agree to freeze production of fissile material and its missile program, despite a de facto moratorium on nuclear and missile testing since 2017.

Biegun has said he will be seeking both in Hanoi and will also be looking to agree a roadmap for a possibly lengthy post-summit negotiation process.

INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, MILITARY DOUBTS

Yet neither the U.S. intelligence community, nor regional military commanders believe North Korea will agree to give up all of its nuclear weapons.

While welcoming an easing of tensions, critics worry the Trump administration – Biegun included – is now following Pyongyang’s playbook by dropping past demands for complete denuclearization before any concessions.

Trump and U.S. officials insist North Korea’s complete and verified denuclearization remains the ultimate goal, but experts say the mechanics of a negotiated process mean this could take many years – if it happens at all.

Trump’s close involvement could prove a mixed blessing for Biegun.

Unlike predecessors, Biegun has had significant direct contact with Trump, including involvement in White House talks with North Korean officials and an Oval Office meeting with the president in December.

But Trump has sometimes demonstrated a tendency to ignore advisers and act on impulse.

Biegun, according to a veteran American North Korea hand,” is a prisoner … of a president who has no interest in the substance of the issues.” “The president’s priority is himself – his brand,” the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Biegun is also beholden to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a trusted Trump aide with a reputation for following the president’s marching orders and for rarely contradicting him.

While Pompeo has overall control of North Korea policy, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, known for hawkish views on a range of global issues, has appeared to fade into the background on North Korea since his calls for the nation’s rapid disarmament nearly derailed the first summit.

The extent of Bolton’s involvement in the Hanoi meeting remains unclear.

Analysts say that for Biegun’s methodical approach to prevail he will need to deliver a semblance of progress in Hanoi. They warn Trump’s taste for a showy moment and apparent lack of patience with the sort of detailed drawn-out haggling any lasting deal will require could complicate Biegun’s task.

A photo Trump tweeted on Christmas Day showing him reading a memo at his desk in the Oval Office while Biegun and White House adviser Allison Hooker stand on his side, looking on, captured the awkwardness of his subordinates’ role. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1077311502615490560

Toby Dalton, of the Nuclear Policy Program at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who was among Biegun’s advisers, noted he had left himself ample leeway in his Stanford speech for a reason.

“This reflects uncertainly about what U.S. policy is,” he said. “U.S. policy is what the president says it is on any given day.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington and Hyonhee Shin in SEOUL; Editing by Mary Milliken and Tomasz Janowski)

Source: OANN

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Man steals ambulance, rams into several vehicles in North Carolina parking lot, stunning video shows

Authorities in North Carolina arrested a man Monday after a wild parking lot scene in which a stolen ambulance crashed into several vehicles -- a stunning episode that was caught on video.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police told FOX46 the incident happened around noon in the parking lot of a business in southeast Charlotte.

Paramedics from the Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency, also known as Medic, had responded to a call about a half hour earlier and were treating a patient when a person suddenly approached the vehicle and got inside.

NIPSEY HUSSLE SHOOTING SUSPECT ID'D BY LOS ANGELES POLICE; SEARCH UNDERWAY

The crew was able to get out of the ambulance before the man took off in the stolen vehicle. He traveled across the parking lot before crashing into several vehicles.

In a video obtained by FOX46, a woman can be heard reacting as the ambulance strikes the parked vehicles.

"Oh my God! I cannot believe what we're watching!" the woman can be heard saying.

DRIVER, 28, CHARGED WITH DUI; VEHICLE WAS MISSING WHEEL, HAD MARGARITA DRINK IN CUP HOLDER, POLICE SAY

No one was injured during the incident, but several vehicles were damaged.

Several vehicles were damaged after a man stole an ambulance in a parking lot of a business in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday.

Several vehicles were damaged after a man stole an ambulance in a parking lot of a business in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday. (FOX46)

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The man can then be seen running away from the ambulance as police arrive. Officers eventually surrounded the man and took him into custody.

Authorities have not yet identified the man or announced what charges he may face in connection with the incident. A possible motive for the brief, destructive joyride was also not clear.

Source: Fox News National

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Security Council members urge Yemen parties to implement peace deal

FILE PHOTO: Houthi allied police troopers secure a street in Hodeidah
FILE PHOTO: Houthi allied police troopers secure a street in Hodeidah, Yemen December 31, 2018. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad/File Photo

March 12, 2019

ADEN (Reuters) – The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council urged Yemen’s warring parties on Tuesday to implement a peace deal in the port city of Hodeidah, a move they hope will lead to an end of the four-year-old conflict.

The Chinese, French, Russian, British and U.S. ambassadors to Yemen said in a statement they were “extremely concerned” that the agreement reached in Stockholm in December had not been implemented.

The Houthi group and the Saudi-backed government agreed on a ceasefire and troop withdrawal in Hodeidah, an exchange of prisoners, and the reopening of humanitarian corridors to help millions of starving Yemenis, with international monitors to oversee things.

“We … urge both parties to begin implementation of the proposal in good faith without further delay and without seeking to exploit the redeployments by the other side,” they said.

“We call on all sides to ensure the U.N. monitoring mission can carry out its work safely and without interference.”

The Stockholm agreement stalled with each side worrying the other would take advantage of the withdrawal to gain ground.

The formation of a local authority to take control of Hodeidah after the troop withdrawal, agreed in the truce deal, also remains a sticking point.

The truce in Hodeidah came into force on Dec. 18 and has largely held but violence has escalated in other regions.

Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 22 civilians, including women and children, in a village in northern Yemen this week, the United Nations said.

Saudi Arabia is leading the Western-backed Sunni Muslim coalition that first intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s ousted government.

Western nations have pressed for an end to the war following increased scrutiny after the murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny receiving help from Tehran and say their revolution is against corruption.

(Reporting By Mohamed Ghobari, writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi, editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: OANN

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Howard Schultz, at Fox News Town Hall: Trump will win re-election if Bernie Sanders gets Democrat nomination

Potential independent 2020 White House contender Howard Schultz took the stage in Kansas City, Missouri for a special “America’s Election HQ” Town Hall Thursday night, and predicted outright that President Trump will win re-election if Democrats nominate a self-described socialist like Bernie Sanders.

The Town Hall, co-hosted by Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, began as Schultz called former Vice President Joe Biden's behavior around women "concerning," but also charged that it was similarly "concerning" that the allegations had suddenly surfaced as he prepares to announce a presidential bid.

Earlier this week, members of Biden's inner circle signaled they were becoming increasingly convinced the Bernie Sanders' campaign was behind at least one of the explosive accusations of physical misconduct recently leveled against the former vice president -- and, in the words of one prominent backer, Biden is now "ready to kill Bernie."

"There's no reason for anyone to believe that these women are not telling the truth, but it's really up to the voters to decide whether Vice President Biden is qualified to run," Schultz said.

WHO IS BILLIONAIRE STARBUCKS MAN HOWARD SCHULTZ?

Asked by Baier if Schultz would ever vote for Biden, Schultz said simply that he would "vote for myself."

Schultz separately denied that he would play a "spoiler" in the race -- and suggested instead that someone like Sanders could unwittingly play that role.

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2019, file photo, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz speaks at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. A Florida woman is suing Schultz after she says she and others on the national do not call list got automated text messages promoting his book tour. Schultz is considering an independent bid for president and launched a tour in January for his latest book, "From the Ground Up." (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2019, file photo, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz speaks at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. A Florida woman is suing Schultz after she says she and others on the national do not call list got automated text messages promoting his book tour. Schultz is considering an independent bid for president and launched a tour in January for his latest book, "From the Ground Up." (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

On abortion, Schultz said to applause, "In my view, there should be no abortion that is in the last trimester. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare."

On immigration, Schultz decried partisanship on the issue, calling the situation a "crisis that can be solved."

"Given what's happening in our southern border ... it's a question of humanity and legal immigration," Schultz said. "I don't know how many people are aware in this audience, but President Bush 43 and Obama, both, while they were president, submitted to Congress an immigration bill. In both cases, the opposition took that bill, rejected it, and would not pass it."

Schultz said those bills, today, would be indistinguishable as Republican or Democrat-sponsored bills, and said they failed simply because of political obstruction.

"That is the problem that existed then, and that is the problem that exists now. I can promise you that Nancy Pelosi will not, under any circumstances, give President Trump a victory on immigration."

"What I saw, in my mind, is a fracturing of American values, and a fracturing of humanity."

Schultz's appearance on Fox News comes weeks after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) excluded the network from hosting a Democrat primary debate. The DNC has since said it has no problems with Sanders appearing on Fox News.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Schultz similarly bucked Democrats with his decision to attend the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington on Monday, which came as Democrats have been grappling with the left's criticism of Israel and as most presidential candidates are sitting this year's conference out.

Prominent Democrats, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, have come under fire from several commentators for making purportedly anti-Semitic remarks -- with Omar suffering repeated rebukes from her own party.

On Friday, Schultz responded to a tweet from the liberal advocacy group MoveOn, which has been urging Democratic presidential candidates not to attend. He said that the "unwillingness of the far left to even speak with people they may disagree with is one of the worst symbols of the dysfunction in Washington today."

Source: Fox News Politics

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer holds annual general meeting
Werner Baumann, CEO of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG, attends the annual general shareholders meeting in Bonn, Germany, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

BONN (Reuters) – Bayer shareholders vented their anger over its stock price slump on Friday as litigation risks mount from the German drugmaker’s $63 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.

Several large investors said they will not support aspirin investor Bayer’s management in a key vote scheduled for the end of its annual general meeting.

Bayer’s management, led by chief executive Werner Baumann, could see an embarrassing plunge in approval ratings, down from 97 percent at last year’s AGM, which was held shortly before the Monsanto takeover closed in June.

A vote to ratify the board’s actions features prominently at every German AGM. Although it has no bearing on management’s liability, it is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment.

“Due to the continued negative development at Bayer, high legal risks and a massive share price slump, we refuse to ratify the management board and supervisory board’s actions during the business year,” Janne Werning, representing Germany’s Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder, said in prepared remarks.

About 30 billion euros ($34 billion) have been wiped off Bayer’s market value since August, when a U.S. jury found the pesticide and drugs group liable because Monsanto had not warned of alleged cancer risks linked to its weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer suffered a similar defeat last month and more than 13,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages.

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

Deutsche Bank’s asset managing arm DWS said shareholders should have been consulted before the takeover, which was agreed in 2016 and closed in June last year.

“You are pointing out that the lawsuits have not been lost yet. We and our customers, however, have already lost something – money and trust,” Nicolas Huber, head of corporate governance at DWS, said in prepared remarks for the AGM.

He said DWS would abstain from the shareholder vote of confidence in the executive and non-executive boards.

Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters this week that Bayer’s largest shareholder, BlackRock, plans to either abstain from or vote against ratifying the management board’s actions.

Asset management firm Deka, among Bayer’s largest German investors, has also said it would cast a no vote.

Baumann said Bayer’s true value was not reflected in the current share price.

“There’s no way to make this look good. The lawsuits and the first verdicts weigh heavily on our company and it’s a concern for many people,” he said, adding it was the right decision to buy Monsanto and that Bayer was vigorously defending itself.

This month, shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recommended investors not to give the executive board their seal of approval.

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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