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US construction spending up strong 1 percent in January

U.S. construction spending rose a solid 1 percent in February, led by a strong gain in spending on government projects, which hit an all-time high.

The Commerce Department says the February increase followed an even larger 2.5 percent gain in January and a slight 0.2 percent rise in December. The gains pushed total construction to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.32 trillion, the highest level since May.

Residential construction was up 0.7 percent. Government construction jumped 3.8 percent to $303 billion, the highest level on record.

Weakness in home building has been a drag on overall growth, but analysts believe housing construction should rebound this year, helped by lower mortgage rates following the signal by the Federal Reserve that it plans to hold rates steady this year.

Source: Fox News National

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Dutch populist wins provincial elections after Utrecht attack

Dutch Prime Minister Rutte of the VVD Liberal party and Dutch far-right politician Wilders of the PVV Party take part in a meeting at the Dutch Parliament after the general election in The Hague
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (R) of the VVD Liberal party and Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders of the PVV Party take part in a meeting at the Dutch Parliament after the general election in The Hague, Netherlands, March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman

March 21, 2019

By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – An upstart populist party shocked the Dutch political establishment by winning the most votes in provincial elections after a preliminary count in the early hours of Thursday, boosted by a possible terrorist attack this week in the city of Utrecht.

The result shows the enduring strength of far-right populism in the Netherlands, coming nearly two decades after the assassination of populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002 led to a similar upset in parliamentary elections.

The most important short term impact is that Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s center-right coalition will be forced to seek outside support to win Senate approval for laws passed by parliament. Provincial votes determine the composition in the Senate, where Rutte’s government has lost its majority.

The big winner in the vote was the Forum for Democracy party, led by 36-year-old Thierry Baudet, which holds just two seats in parliament after entering politics in 2016. On current projections it will have an equal number of seats in the Senate as Rutte’s VVD.

In a speech to supporters peppered with literary allusions, Baudet said the arrogance of the elites had been punished.

“We are standing in the rubble of what was once the most beautiful civilization in the world,” he said.

Following the lead of U.S. President Donald Trump, Baudet opposes immigration and emphasizes “Dutch first” cultural and economic themes. He opposes the euro and thinks the Netherlands should leave the European Union.

Baudet had continued campaigning when other parties stopped after Monday’s attack in Utrecht, in which a gunman shot three people dead on a tram. Baudet blamed the incident on the government’s lax immigration policies.

A 37-year-old Turkish-born man has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. Prosecutors have not determined a motive, though they say it may have been terrorism.

Pollsters had for weeks predicted Rutte’s center-right coalition would lose its Senate majority. But experts, including pollster Maurice de Hond, said the Utrecht attack boosted turnout most among opponents of immigration.

The Dutch economy has been one of Europe’s best performers under successive Rutte-led governments, but resentment over early 2010s austerity programs lingers. Recent debate has focused on funding the government’s plans to meet international goals on climate change.

GOING GREEN

Left-leaning voters feel not enough is being done and supported the pro-environment Green Left party, which also booked big gains nationwide on Wednesday, including taking nearly a quarter of the vote in Amsterdam.

Rutte is expected to look to the Green Left or Labour parties for outside support once the new Senate is seated in May, though there are other possibilities in the increasingly fragmented political landscape, which include religious parties and a party focused on voters older than 50.

Rutte said he would be looking for support from “constructive” parties on either the left or the right. Baudet ruled out any cooperation.

“This means drinking a lot of coffee and making even more phone calls” Rutte told supporters.

“So I’m counting on it that the country will remain well manageable with this result.”

Parliamentary elections are due by March 2021.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: OANN

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Ohio church apologizes after shocking video shows youth pastor asking kids to cut him in Easter lesson

A church in Pataskala, Ohio apologized after a disturbing video surfaced showing a youth pastor asking kids to spit on him, slap him, and then cut him with a steak knife in an Easter message gone wrong.

"The illustration went too far," Justin Ross, the lead pastor of Impact City Church, explained in a video on Facebook, "and it was inappropriate for the audience that we had, that was students."

THESE EASTER EGGS SHOW KIDS THE 'TRUE MEANING' OF THE HOLIDAY

Part-time youth pastor Jaddeaus Dempsey says he was trying to illustrate what happened to Jesus leading up to the crucifixion, so he asked the students to spit on him and they lined up and did so. Then to slap him, as several students expressed that it was "enough," but then he picked up a knife and asked them to cut him.

"Are you serious?" a student asked, as screams are heard in the background. Dempsey responded: "I'm very serious."

One kid, holding the knife, says, "I cannot do this," and hands the knife to another student.

CALIFORNIA EDUCATOR WARNS OF 'FAR-LEFT' AGENDA BEING PUSHED ON KIDS IN CLASSROOMS

The next student brought the knife to his back as "light" as he could.

Dempsey told him to bring blood so the student tried again, saying he could see blood. Then the video stops.

Many students were taking videos and posting them on social media. One of them was posted by Lola Hatfield, who called it "disturbing."

WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO CONTENT

Mandy, one of the parents whose kid was handed a knife, told 10 WBNS she was "appalled."

"I was disturbed," she said. "It was disturbing."

AMERICAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY GUNNED DOWN IN PARAGUAY

Mandy and her husband Josh rushed to pick up their son from the church and noticed he was upset and thought he was in trouble.

Josh told him he wasn't upset with him but "the things that happened here wasn't okay."

YOUNG BOY CREDITS THIS CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S SHOW WITH SAVING HIM FROM SUICIDE

The lead pastor agreed, in a video apology, that the reactions to the incident were appropriate.

"Many of you were disgusted. Many of you were hurt by this. Many of you were very confused on why this would be taking place at a church and a youth event, and we agree," Ross said. "It was inappropriate for this audience and there's really no excuse for why it happened."

BOY WHO INSPIRED FAITH SURVIVAL STORY 'BREAKTHROUGH' SAYS 'GOD STILL DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE'

But he said the intent behind it, which was not seen on social media, is important to clear up.

"After Jaddeaus allowed them to spit on him, slap him, and cut him, he sat them down and explained to them about this guy named Jesus, who thousands of years ago, he was put on trial for a crime that he didn't commit, and he was beaten, he was broken, he was whipped, he was crucified, and he died as an innocent man."

The pastor explained that Jesus could've stopped it at any point but "chose to take the debt we call sin."

Jesus did it out of love, the pastor explained, adding that the youth pastor was trying to "share" in Jesus' pain.

MILLENNIALS CREATE BIBLE FOR THE INSTAGRAM GENERATION

Dempsey said some students felt bad and he told them it was completely his idea.

"It was completely my idea. Not Justin, not any of the other leaders, including my own wife, knew the illustration that I was about to perform," Dempsey said. "I crossed the line, and it was over the top and it was just not appropriate. It was in bad judgment. I'm so sorry for misrepresenting the community, the church, the parents, the students, anybody that I hurt. It was not my intention."

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The goal was to show the students how much Jesus loved them, the youth pastor explained.

"In no way do we condone that students or anyone else should spit on someone, should slap them, or use a weapon to harm anyone or harm themselves," Ross said, "and we have a lot to evaluate to ensure that a situation like this doesn't happen again."

Source: Fox News National

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Porzingis takes part in first practice with Mavs

FILE PHOTO: NBA: Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks
FILE PHOTO: Feb 13, 2019; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Kristaps Porzingis sits on the bench during the game against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports - 12158620

March 13, 2019

Kristaps Porzingis participated in his first full practice with the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.

“I felt good on the court. I felt comfortable, I felt fluid,” Porzingis said of graduating from 3-on-3 workouts. “It feels good to do something physically.”

Porzingis landed with the Mavericks in February when the New York Knicks unloaded the 7-foot-3 All-Star, who hasn’t played this season while recovering from a torn ACL, as the centerpiece of a seven-player swap.

Head coach Rick Carlisle said the Mavericks are following a plan with Porzingis, who will not play this season.

“No issues,” Carlisle said after the workout Wednesday. “He’s made tremendous progress with his rehab, with his conditioning, his strength. This was the next logical progression. He played 3-on-3 yesterday morning with some of the other guys and did extremely well there. This went really well.”

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he engaged Porzingis about a long-term deal in February. Cuban said his goal is make sure Porzinigis is a member of the franchise for “the next 20 years.”

Porzingis can choose to play next season on a $4.5 million qualifying offer instead of accepting an offer that could be worth as much as $158 million over five years.

New York decided not to sign Porzingis to a rookie extension before the 2018-19 season — allowing him to become a restricted free agent after this season — in part to preserve an extra $10 million in cap space to go after free agents this summer.

Before the trade, the Knicks were projected to have slightly more than $30 million available under the salary cap, enough to lure a max-value contract in free agency.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Nicklaus thinks Augusta National will eventually allow smartphones

Nicklaus tees off during the ceremonial start on the first day of play at the 2019 Master golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Honorary starter Jack Nicklaus of the U.S. tees off during the ceremonial start on the first day of play at the 2019 Master golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

April 11, 2019

By Andrew Both

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Six-times Masters champion Jack Nicklaus once said he did not carry a mobile phone because people never called to offer him something, but only if they wanted something.

Times have changed since he made those remarks some two decades ago and these days Nicklaus is as wedded to his smartphone as billions of other people around the world.

The PGA Tour relented on its phone ban in 2011, asking spectators to put the devices on silent mode so as not to distract players. With occasional exceptions, the policy has worked smoothly.

But the Masters still bans such devices at Augusta National, and players have said that they find it a refreshing change.

Nicklaus, however, thinks the writing is on the wall, and that the tournament will end up following the PGA Tour’s lead.

“I think they probably will change that shortly,” Nicklaus, an Augusta National member, said on Thursday after hitting the ceremonial first tee shot to kick off the 83rd Masters.

“I think you should ask the PGA Tour if the cell phone has become a problem, or has it become something that’s so much of everyday life that people have learned how to respect it and use it properly.

“I understand exactly what’s going on here and I respect that but I think times have changed … but not my call.”

His comments came less than 24 hours after Masters chairman Fred Ridley reiterated the club’s strict policy on the matter.

“I think our patrons appreciate our cell phone policy,” said Ridley.

“I know that we have now become an outlier, if not the only outlier in golf.

“I don’t believe that’s a policy that anyone should expect is going to change in the near future, if ever.

“I can’t speak for future chairmen, but speaking for myself, I think we got that right.”

Given that Ridley is a fit and healthy 66-year-old, his tenure as chairman could last quite a while.

But Nicklaus thinks the old problem of players being put off when phones made a clicking sound taking pictures no longer exists.

“Doesn’t make a noise anymore,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a distraction from the gallery that ever affected what happened in the tournament.”

(Reporting by Andrew Both, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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Militants blamed in Sri Lanka attacks had incendiary leader

The purported leader of an Islamic extremist group blamed for an Easter attack in Sri Lanka that killed over 320 people began posting videos online three years ago calling for non-Muslims to be "eliminated," faith leaders said Tuesday.

Much remains unclear about how a little-known group called National Thowfeek Jamaath allegedly carried out six large nearly simultaneous suicide bombings striking churches and hotels on Sunday.

However, warnings about growing radicalism in the island nation off the coast of India date to at least 2007, while Muslim leaders say their repeated warnings about the group and its leader drew no visible reaction from officials responsible for public security.

"Some of the intelligence people saw his picture but they didn't take action," said N.M. Ameen, the president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka.

Tension coursed through Colombo on Tuesday as the military took on emergency war-time powers, allowing them to conduct warrantless searches and detain suspects for up to two weeks before a court hearing.

Such powers haven't been invoked since Sri Lanka's bloody civil war, when people feared that unclaimed bags or debris could hide a bomb. On one commuter train Tuesday morning, panicked passengers shouted over one unclaimed piece of luggage until its owner was found.

Authorities have blamed National Thowfeek Jamaath for the attack. Its leader, alternately known as Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

"It was basically a hate campaign against all non-Muslims," said Hilmy Ahamed, the Muslim council's vice president. "Basically, he was saying non-Muslims have to be eliminated."

Zahran's name was on one intelligence warning shared among Sri Lankan security forces, who apparently even quietly took their growing concerns to international experts as well.

Anne Speckhard, the director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, said a Sri Lankan intelligence official approached her at a conference in February with a surprising question. She was worried about what she described as a violent, homegrown jihadi group that "would just disappear" when the government tried to crack down on them.

"The intel person kind of came up to me and said, 'You know, we're kind of worried about this new group and there's some activity going. What do you think?'" Speckhard told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It just kind of blows my mind that's who it was."

As far as the planning, Speckhard noted that Sri Lanka was "a part of the world that developed suicide vests" during the civil war against the Tamil Tigers, a secular, nationalist group that once was the world's top suicide attacker. But the style of Sunday's attacks, targeting churches on Easter and hotels frequented by foreigners, followed that of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

"It is a simple attack that is well thought out," Speckhard said. "I do believe well thought out is a product of being in touch with someone from the outside."

That's a feeling shared by the Austin, Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor.

"The degree of sophistication in the making of the bombs indicates that the attackers did in fact have help from outside Sri Lanka, which could have come via coordination with external militant groups such as al-Qaida or the Islamic State, from Sri Lankan fighters returning from battlefields in Iraq and Syria, or from a combination of the two," a Stratfor analysis said Tuesday. "Clarity on the nature of such networks, however, will have to wait for the emergence of more details about the attacks."

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka attack via its Aamaq news agency on Tuesday, but offered no photographs or videos of attackers pledging their loyalty to the group. Such material, often showing suicide bombers pledging loyalty before their assaults, offers credibility to their claims.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell and Bharatha Mallawarachi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap and www.twitter.com/bharatha77

Source: Fox News World

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Biden’s Team Claims Photos A “Cottage Industry of Lies”

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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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