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Ford exiting heavy truck business in South America

The 88th Geneva International Motor Show
FILE PHOTO: The Ford logo is pictured on the company's stand during the 88th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, March 7, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

February 19, 2019

DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co on Tuesday said it would exit its heavy commercial truck business in South America and cease production at a Brazilian plant this year as a result.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker expects to record pretax special charges of about $460 million, with most of that recorded this year, it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Ambassador: US had ‘no prior knowledge’ of Sri Lanka threat

The U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka says America had "no prior knowledge" of the Easter bombings that killed over 350 people in the island nation, despite local claims that foreign officials had been warned that an attack was looming.

Ambassador Alaina Teplitz says that as the investigation into Sunday's Islamic State-claimed attack continues, a team of both FBI agents and U.S. military personnel are in Sri Lanka assisting the probe.

While declining to say whether U.S. officials had intelligence on the local extremists and their leader who allegedly carried out the assault, Teplitz said Wednesday that America remains concerned over militants at large.

She also said that "clearly there was some failure in the system" that caused Sri Lankan officials to fail to share the warnings they received prior to the attack.

Source: Fox News National

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Sanders Aims to Stake an Early Claim to California

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Three years ago, news of the end came at the municipal airport in Santa Monica. Bernie Sanders had parachuted into California dozens of times in a last-ditch effort to keep his presidential ambitions alive. But even as the Democratic-Socialist-turned-Democratic contender promised supporters gathered in an aging airline hanger that he would “continue to fight,” his self-styled “revolution” was effectively over.

The Sanders camp had hoped a win in delegate-rich California would bolster the candidate’s standing ahead of a delegate fight at the Democratic National Convention. The Golden State loss crushed those dreams, as Hillary Clinton cruised to victory there and clinched the nomination.

That was the fate of Bernie the insurgent in 2016. Bernie 2.0 is preparing for next year’s election as the ideological trailblazer of the newly insurgent left and an unlikely frontrunner in the Democrats’ large presidential field. To avoid being caught short in California again, Sanders has is making a concentrated and early effort there. Jeff Weaver, who managed the Vermont senator’s campaign in 2016, told reporters this week that the candidate will be prepared to compete in California and across the country.

“While in 2016 we had to make choices about where we could compete, I’m certain that in this race that some of our other opponents will have to make similar difficult choices,” he said. “This campaign will have the resources and volunteer strength to compete in every single state in the primary process.”

Part of this is simple necessity. Although California is fellow candidate Kamala Harris’ home state, the move of the primary from June to March has made it impossible to ignore. Instead of playing its traditional role as the final battleground – and sometimes an irrelevant one -- the Golden State will serve as “the gatekeeper” this time around, predicts veteran California pollster Paul Mitchell.

“If a candidate doesn’t do well in the early primary states but wins California, they get to April. Period. No questions,” Mitchell told RealClearPolitics. The inverse is also true. “If someone does well in Iowa and New Hampshire but doesn’t do well in California,” he continued, “other candidates could swamp them.”

California’s early influence is also enhanced by its emphasis on early voting. Voters are automatically registered and can vote by mail, an option that two-thirds of the electorate took advantage of in 2018. Mitchell expects turnout in 2020 to top 20 million -- with 16 million of those votes cast through the post office. Those ballots will be made available on Feb. 3, the same day Iowa Democrats go to the caucuses for their first-in-the-country contest.

According to analysis from Mitchell’s nonpartisan firm, Political Data Inc., this means California will start making its decision long before the race officially begins. Five percent will have voted by the time Iowa tabulates results, over 25 percent by the end of the New Hampshire primary, and a whopping 40 percent when the South Carolina contest concludes.

This means that California won’t be a sprint so much as it will be a month-long slog favoring the candidate with the best ground game and the most resources to put it into action. And this favors Harris, in particular. California’s freshman senator enjoys home field advantage.

One of her advisers, Averell Smith, told David Axelrod as much during a podcast last fall. He said that the early California primary with its early voting would be “a fun thing.” History may call it the key to Harris’ 2020 strategy if she wins the nomination.

“So the day Iowa votes,” the Obama former top strategist said, “California will begin voting, and that should be an enormous advantage to a candidate who is from California, which will have about what, 12 percent of the delegates?”

A Harris head start isn’t insurmountable, and there are signs Sanders is the candidate beat. The Harris campaign announced a $12 million fundraising haul in the first quarter, a sum raised from 218,000 individuals around the country. But Sanders took in $18 million from 525,000 unique donors – and, as his campaign gleefully informed reporters, 167,000 of those contributors call California home.

What’s more, as Mitchell notes, California is hardly a monolith. The pollster expects different candidates to target to different chunks of the electorate to keep the race tight.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang will try to appeal to the tech sensibilities of Silicon Valley. Openly gay South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg will make a strong pitch to LGBT communities, especially in San Francisco. Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro will court Latino voters throughout the state. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic congressman from the San Francisco Bay Area, is toying with his own run. Above all towers former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet declared but who has national name recognition surpassing that of Harris and Sanders.

With the California contest being billed as the battle royale of the 2020 primary, influential players are remaining mum. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Harris’ fellow home-state Democratic senator, insists she isn’t paying attention to Sanders’ recent visit and hasn’t been tracking his efforts to win the state’s 55 delegates.

“I haven’t heard about it so I can’t respond,” she told RCP.

Asked if she thinks, as California’s junior senator, Harris should be more competitive than Sanders in her own state, Feinstein said Harris would give him a run for his money.  

“She will be competitive in California,” she said. “I have no doubt about that.”

Pressed further as to why Sanders has so many donors in the state -- nearly three-fourths the number of Harris’ -- Feinstein demurred: “Oh, I’m not going to get into any of that now — good try.”

That coyness may be indicative of a previous loyalty. Earlier this year, Feinstein said it would be difficult not to support Biden if he runs for president in 2020.

“I worked with him, I saw him in action, I saw him as vice president, I saw his growth, his ability and I saw his humanity,” the five-term senator told reporters in January. “He’s an incredible human being. It’s very hard for me, if he runs, to ignore that.”

Asked about Harris, Feinstein said, “I love Kamala. But this is a different kind of thing.”

The race will certainly be a different kind of thing, thanks to the new California schedule and a field that has moved farther left than any other in recent memory. While focus will shift to the early primary states, politicos and pollsters admit that the political gaze will remain fixed on the Golden State and its delegate windfall.

Some still shy away from describing California as the Holy Grail of 2020. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton’s running mate in 2016, acknowledged the outsized role the state can play but urged caution. “It’s important,” Kaine said, “but you can do well in California and not so well elsewhere — that’s why it’s wide open.”

To avoid a repeat of his last loss, though, Sanders has established an early beachhead in the state. It could be key to keeping his second “revolution” rolling.

Susan Crabtree contributed to this report.

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EssilorLuxottica’s Sagnieres seeks to reassure in letter to French staff

FILE PHOTO: Lens producers Essilor' s logo is seen in an optician shop in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Lens producers Essilor' s logo is seen in an optician shop in Paris, France, March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

March 27, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – EssilorLuxottica’s executive vice chairman Hubert Sagnieres sought to ease concerns over the governance of the newly created Franco-Italian eyewear group, days after accusing the Italian founder of Luxottica of plotting to take control.

In a letter sent to Essilor staff, Sagnieres said that the search for a new CEO for EssilorLuxottica was a “priority” and that integration work was ongoing within the frame of 20 joint working groups.

“We must dedicate our energy to integrating the two businesses under strong leadership and implementing the synergies that we have promised to the market,” Sagnieres wrote on Wednesday.

France’s Essilor and Italy’s Luxottica merged last October, creating the world’s largest eyewear maker in a 54 billion euro ($62 billion) deal, and the two sides are supposed to have equal weighting in the leadership of the combined company.

The two sides, however, have accused each other of trying to gain the upper hand.

(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Tennis: New French Open court unveiled as prize money increases

Inside view of a greenhouse at the botanical garden
Inside view of a greenhouse at the botanical garden "Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil" in Paris, France, March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

March 21, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – French Open organizers on Thursday unveiled the brand new Court Simonne Mathieu, hoping the 5,000-seat arena will boost the tournament’s atmosphere as they raised the prize money by more than eight percent.

Named after France’s second-most decorated female player, the arena is nestled among the area’s graceful 19-century greenhouses.

The prize money has been raised from 39.2 million euros ($44.48 million) up to 42.6 million, with the singles’ winners each earning a cheque of 2.3 million euros.

Tournament director Guy Forget doesn’t yet know which players will be the first to step onto the brand new court when the French Open starts on May 26, but he is certain the arena will be worthy of the occasion.

“Wimbledon, the U.S. and Australian Open spread out, they have facilities that are more modern, more comfortable, we were a bit lagging behind,” Forget said.

“Thanks to this court and the stadium that has been growing in size, we will be able to welcome all the fans in perfect conditions.”

Concern for the greenhouses was at the heart of the fierce opposition the French Tennis Federation faced when it announced the revamp, because the plan involved expanding the venue into the picturesque Serres d’Auteuil.

The famed botanical garden is home to 6,000 square meters of greenhouses built in 1898 and contain works by the sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the Roland Garros expansion has added more than 1,300 sqm of greenhouses to the existing ones.

The center court, Court Philippe Chatrier, has been partially restored before being equipped with a retractable roof for the 2020 edition.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

Source: OANN

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Avenatti says ‘nervous’ about prison time but proclaims innocence

Lawyer Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after he walks out of federal court in New York
Lawyer Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after he walks out of federal court in New York, New York, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

March 26, 2019

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Avenatti on Tuesday again proclaimed his innocence on charges he tried to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc, but in an interview with CBS, admitted he was concerned about doing prison time.

Avenatti, 48, was arrested on Monday following two separate indictments, handed down in federal courts in Los Angeles and New York, that charged him with the alleged Nike scheme as well as embezzlement and fraud over accusations he misused a client’s money.

CBS News on Tuesday released an excerpt of an interview it conducted with Avenatti in which he said he was worried about the possibility of going to prison for decades.

“Sure I’m nervous, I’m scared. I’m all those things. And if I wasn’t, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense,” Avenatti said in the brief clip released by CBS on Tuesday.

Avenatti, in a series of tweets earlier on Tuesday, lashed out at Nike and insisted he was innocent.

“I am anxious for people to see what really happened,” the flamboyant attorney known for representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels, said in one tweet. “We never attempted to extort Nike & when the evidence is disclosed, the public will learn the truth about Nike’s crime & cover-up.”

Nike said in a written statement the company “will not be extorted,” and that it had immediately alerted investigators to the plot.

According to the criminal complaint, Avenatti told Nike he would go public unless it paid his client $1.5 million and hired him and another lawyer to conduct an internal investigation of the company for between $15 million and $25 million.

The charges were announced on Monday shortly after Avenatti said on Twitter he would hold a news conference to reveal “a major high school/college basketball scandal” reaching “the highest levels of Nike.”

Avenatti faces up to 30 years in prison on the most serious charge in California and up to 20 years for the top charge in New York.

He faces separate charges in a Los Angeles federal court on April 1, accusing the high-profile lawyer of misusing a client’s $1.6 million settlement to pay his own expenses as well as those for his coffee business. He was also charged with defrauding a Mississippi bank of $4.1 million.

Avenatti has gained international notoriety for representing Daniels, the 40-year-old porn star whom Trump is accused of paying off during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Suspect arrested twice previously at mall

The Latest on a 5-year-old child injured in an apparent attack at Minnesota's Mall of America (all times local):

5 p.m.

Court records show a 24-year-old Minneapolis man suspected of throwing or pushing a 5-year-old boy from a balcony at the Mall of America was charged in two previous incidents at the mall.

Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda was arrested on July 4, 2015, after police said he matched the description of a man throwing things off the upper level of the mall to the lower level. Police say Aranda refused to give his name and resisted arrest. Aranda also was accused of walking into a mall store and sweeping his hand across a display table, breaking glasses.

In October 2015, Aranda was accused of throwing glasses in Twin Cities Grill in the mall. The complaint says Aranda approached a woman who was waiting for the restaurant to open and asked her to buy him something. The woman refused, and Aranda allegedly threw a glass of water in her face and a glass of tea that struck her leg. Aranda was under a trespass notice at the time banning him from the mall until July 4, 2016.

Aranda was chased and arrested Friday after the boy was thrown or pushed from a third-floor balcony and landed on the first floor at the mall. The boy suffered life-threatening injuries.

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4:30 p.m.

A 24-year-old Minneapolis man is being held on suspicion of attempted homicide in an apparent attack in which a 5-year-old boy was pushed or thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America.

Police identified Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda as the man who was chased and arrested after Friday morning's incident at the megamall in suburban Minneapolis.

The child suffered life-threatening injuries and is being treated at a hospital. Details of his condition weren't immediately available.

Aranda's criminal record includes two convictions in 2015 for obstruction of the legal process/interfering with a peace officer, as well as convictions for fifth-degree assault, trespassing and damage to property.

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4:15 p.m.

Police in Minnesota say a 5-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries when he was pushed or thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America.

Witnesses say the boy's mother was screaming and asking others to pray for her son.

Tina Hailey of Burnsville, Minnesota, tells the Star Tribune she was walking with her husband on the mall's first floor when she heard screams. Hailey says the mother appeared to be in shock and "didn't know what to do," and that "Nobody was helping her."

Witnesses say a suspect ran away and was arrested at the mall's transit station. The 24-year-old man from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is being held at the Bloomington Police Department.

The boy was taken to a hospital. His condition is unknown.

Police say the suspect apparently does not know the victim or the victim's family.

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Corrects Hailey's first name to 'Tina' instead of 'Tiny.'

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2:15 p.m.

A witness says a woman screamed that her child was thrown from a balcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota.

Brian Johnson told WCCO-TV the woman was screaming, "Everybody pray, everybody pray. Oh my God, my baby, someone threw him over the edge."

Johnson says the woman was screaming that her child was thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Bloomington, Minnesota, mall. The child landed on the first floor on Friday morning.

Police say the child is 5 years old. The police chief says the child suffered "significant injuries" and was taken to a hospital.

A suspect was arrested at the mall. Police don't think there is any relationship between the man and the child or the child's family. Authorities don't know a motive.

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12:55 p.m.

Police in Minnesota say they've arrested a 24-year-old man in an incident in which a child may have been pushed or thrown from a balcony at the Mall of America.

Bloomington Police Chief Jeffrey Potts says witnesses told police that the child may have fallen from the mall's third level to the first floor on Friday morning. Potts says officers gave first aid but the 5-year-old child suffered "significant injuries" and had been taken to a hospital.

Potts says the suspect took off running right after the incident but was quickly found and arrested at the mall.

He says police don't think there is any relationship between the man and the child or the child's family. He says police don't have an idea about possible motive.

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12:46 p.m.

Police in Minnesota say they're investigating an incident at the Mall of America in which a child was reportedly thrown from a third-floor balcony.

Police in Bloomington tweeted that a 5-year-old child suffered injuries and was being treated at a hospital Friday. Police didn't immediately respond to a message seeking details about the incident.

The Star Tribune reports that the child was being treated at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.

Source: Fox News National

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED FOR CASH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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