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Spanish Populist Party Banned From TV Debate

Spanish nationalist-populist party VOX has been dropped from an upcoming televised debate due to pressure from the electoral commission, despite surging national support and major regional success.

Party leader Santiago Abascal was due to join four other top candidates at the April 23rd event, hosted by private broadcaster Atresmedia, but will no longer be allowed to participate after smaller regional parties brought a complaint.

Interestingly, it was reportedly the only debate in which Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had committed to taking part ahead of April 28th parliamentary elections.

“According to legislative reforms introduced in 2011, private networks have the obligation to respect the same principles of ‘neutrality and equality’ as public stations,” El Pais reports. “At that time, the Central Electoral Board (JEC) established that only parties that had earned at least five percent of votes at the last general election could participate in these debates.”

“Vox obtained 0.2% of the vote at the 2016 election, significantly shy of the threshold. Election officials said its presence would violate the rights of Catalan and Basque nationalist parties, whose leaders were not invited to the event.”

Abascal slammed the decision on social media.

"It is clear who still commands in Spain: the separatists," he tweeted. "A great victory of #LongLiveSpain will drive the outlawing of those who want to tear up our coexistence, our Constitution and our Homeland."

A tweet from an official VOX account pointed out that smaller parties had been allowed to participate in such a debate with no issue.

"The Electoral Board suspends the presence of VOX at #ElDebate with Atresmedia," VOX Noticias declared. "The same one that accepted We Can and Citizens Party when they had no representation in the Congress. The persecution of VOX has moved from the streets to the institutions."

Atresmedia has reportedly rescheduled and restructured the debate to comply with the electoral commission's demands, but also intends to contest the board's decision.

VOX recently sent shockwaves through the Spanish political order when the upstart party gained major traction in Andalusian elections on an anti-mass migration, anti-leftism platform.

VOX is currently polling at 11 percent heading into snap elections, according to Poll of Polls.

Although many people were recorded celebrating the Notre Dame fire online, the MSM is pushing the false narrative that conservatives are creating fake news.

(PHOTO: Jesus Hellin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Source: InfoWars

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Retail investors, mid-caps stand out in China’s stock rally

FILE PHOTO: An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shanghai
FILE PHOTO: An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shanghai, China September 7, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo/File Photo

March 15, 2019

By Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Heartened by signs of an end to a long-running trade war with the United States and monetary easing at home, China’s stock indices have vaulted by a fifth since the beginning of this year and recovered a big chunk of 2018’s losses.

The Shanghai stock index scaled the 3,000 mark for the first time since June this month. The rally has been characterized by heavy retail participation, rising foreign flows into the country and soaring turnover.

Here are some of the salient features of this rally:

China has outperformed its Asian peers and most other global stock markets this year.

Beijing’s efforts to support an economy growing at its slowest pace in 28 years, through tax cuts and government spending, are widely seen as the critical factor behind the recent run-up.

On top of that, the United States and China are possibly in the final weeks of discussions to hammer out a deal to ease their tit-for-tat tariffs dispute.

(For a graphic on ‘China equities outrun other Asian markets’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2CjoVsn)

(For a graphic on ‘Chinese stocks rise amid yuan appreciation’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2OayIG5)

The rally has been dominated by mid-cap firms. Shares in Eastern Communications have seen a jaw-dropping 752 percent gain since late November amid speculation the company would be a beneficiary from China’s 5G tech push, even as the firm repeatedly clarified it has no revenue whatsoever from 5G business.

(For a graphic on ‘China bulls charging to record highs’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2CmEP5d)

Trading volumes have jumped while investor confidence has been picking up. The number of Chinese stock investors had climbed to 147.5 million in January 2019, while market turnover soared to 2015 highs. Retail investors accounted for 99.6 percent of total investors.

(For a graphic on ‘Investor confidence picked up’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2UBVadB)

(For a graphic on ‘China’s A-share market daily turnover soared’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2Uze0BV)

Private equity funds have become one of the driving forces behind the rally. Their average equity exposure stood at 72 percent in March 2019, its highest since at least late 2017, showed data from Simuwang.com, an industry website.

(For a graphic on ‘Chinese private equity funds hiked their equity exposure levels’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2UyNGYH)

Mutual funds are joining the party too, looking for better returns in stocks. According to the data from China Securities Regulatory Commission, the number of equity mutual funds in China had been steadily increasing in the four quarters of 2018, while their fund shares and net asset value were also on a rising trend.

(For a graphic on ‘Shares of equity mutual funds climbed through Q4 2018’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2FbaGb4)

The cheapness of China’s shares, despite the rally, is part of the appeal. The SSEC currently trades at 12.6 times earnings, compared with an earning multiple of roughly 18 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

(For a graphic on ‘China stocks low valuations appeal to investors’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2FatCqd)

Foreign investors have splurged hundreds of billions of yuan snapping up A-shares, particularly after China promised more access for them by combining two inbound investment schemes.

The wall of money rushing in even forced global index provider MSCI to take off a stock from its index. MSCI said it would remove Han’s Laser Technology from its China indexes and slash the weighting of Midea Group Co, citing issues triggered by foreign ownership ceilings.

The ownership limit could become a bigger headache for overseas investors buying Chinese stocks, especially small- and mid-caps.

(For a graphic on ‘Industry leaders with heavy foreign ownership’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2UuwT97)

Even pigs are “flying”.

Alongside the speculative frenzy that has seen many small cap stocks hitting fresh highs, shares in China’s leading pig producers have soared to record levels despite the industry facing one of its worst disease outbreaks in years, as investors bet on tightening pork supplies and strong government support for leading producers.

As of Tuesday, Wens Foodstuff Group, the biggest start-up firm and mainland China’s top hog farmer, had surged more than 60 percent since the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.

(For a graphic on ‘PIGS FLY: China’s hog producers soared amid African swine fever’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2FaKwoM)

Retail borrowing to speculate in stocks is also back with a vengeance as regulators shift their focus back to growth after a lengthy clampdown on riskier types of financing.

Some investors have even turned to the gray market for financing as they tried to maximize their gains in the rally, although China’s securities watchdog is gradually tightening its scrutiny over this form of shadow lending.

(For a graphic on ‘China investors borrow more to buy shares’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2UBbT0u)

(Editing by Vidya Ranganathan & Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Albania opposition’s protests attract fewer participants

Albanian opposition parties have continued their weekly protests calling for the government's resignation and an early election.

The center-right Democratic Party-led opposition accuses the leftist Socialist Party government of Prime Minister Edi Rama of being corrupt and linked to organized crime, which the government denies.

A few thousand protesters, apparently fewer than a week ago, gathered Wednesday in front of the parliament building shouting "Rama go!" while their leaders and others made short speeches. There were fewer attempts to break the police cordon and the rally ended more quickly.

The parliament held its weekly session, protected by hundreds of policemen.

In previous protests since mid-February, opposition supporters have repeatedly tried to enter the parliament or government buildings and police have responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Source: Fox News World

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Missouri sheriff’s deputy, veteran spotted on camera saving American flag touching the ground

A sheriff's deputy and veteran in Missouri went above the call of duty earlier this month after spotting an American flag on a broken flagpole that was nearly on the ground.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post the incident happened on March 15 in Avondale after a storm had passed through the region and Deputy Brandon McElroy was driving through the neighborhood.

Video from a Ring doorbell camera sent into the sheriff's office by the homeowner shows McElroy slow down in front of the house, turn around and get out after noticing the flag partially draped on the ground.

"Seeing the flag down, my first reaction was to do the right thing and make sure to show respect and pick it up off the ground," McElroy told "Fox & Friends." "I'm not necessarily on the lookout for it, but driving in that area I've always noticed his flagpole up with the flag waving, and driving through that area that particular morning I noticed it was down and just had to pick it up."

DONORS STEP UP TO REPLACE TATTERED AMERICAN FLAGS BEFORE PROCESSION FOR SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

In the video released by the sheriff's office, McElroy can be seen going onto the front yard and removing the flag from the broken pole before respectfully folding it up on the front porch of the home.

"It means a lot to me," he said Sunday. "Growing up, you show your respect to the flag. Doing little things such as making sure it doesn't touch the ground or picking it up off the ground, just little things you can show it respect."

The sheriff's deputy served for 7 1/2 years with the Air Force at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri as a security forces member.

GIRL'S SPECIAL DOLL HONORING HER DEPLOYED ARMY DAD FOUND, RETURNED AT AIRPORT AFTER VIRAL FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN

At the time, McElroy said he didn't realize that there was a doorbell camera recording him. It was hours later that day when he was approached by the homeowner's wife who thanked him for his kind deed.

He told "Fox & Friends" he strives to make sure to always do the right thing, even when nobody is watching.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

"Something as small as that cloth represents a lot in this country, whether it's the men and women that have died for it or the men and women that wear it to this day serving our country so we can have our freedoms that we have and enjoy the things that we do on an everyday basis," he said.

Source: Fox News National

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Fake news? Mueller isn’t buying it

President Donald Trump and his team love to deride unfavorable stories as "fake news." But it's clear from Robert Mueller's report that the special counsel isn't buying that.

While there are exceptions, Mueller's investigation repeatedly supports the news reporting that was done on the Russia probe over the last two years, and details several instances where the president and his team sought to mislead the public.

Whether that's enough to sway Trump's supporters remains unknown. They're still basking in the report's ultimate conclusion that the evidence doesn't support that the president or his team worked with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.

Source: Fox News National

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North Carolina man buys Chick-fil-A for service members in remembrance of his late brother

When Jonathan Full saw two men in uniform walk into a Durham, North Carolina Chick-fil-A for lunch on Saturday, he immediately got up from his seat and took out his wallet to pay for their meals.

Minutes later, about nine more military members entered the fast food joint — but that didn't deter Full. He waved them over to take their orders, too.

Full's brother, Stephen, beamed with pride as he watched his sibling chat with the strangers. Their sons were also sitting at their table, witnessing the kind act firsthand.

CHICK-FIL-A REVEALS 4 POTENTIAL MENU ITEMS THAT 'DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT'

"He didn’t even bat an eye and asked everyone in line to allow [them] to come to the front of the line," Stephen recalled in a Facebook post, which has been shared 100 times.

Stephen hoped their kids learned a valuable lesson from watching Full's interaction with the service members.

Jonathan Full bought Chick-fil-A for 11 service members in North Carolina.

Jonathan Full bought Chick-fil-A for 11 service members in North Carolina. (Stephen Full)

"We wanted to use it as a teaching moment for our boys ... to show respect and honor for the men and women that fight for this country every day," Stephen told Fox News. "Take care of the people that take care of us."

Specifically, Stephen said Full wanted to give back to the troops in remembrance of their stepbrother Joshua Zamora who "ended his battle with PTSD" a week prior. Joshua served as a Marine and had recently returned home from a tour in Afghanistan.

"Do you know what a small gesture like paying for their meal and thanking a serviceman or woman does to their head and heart?"

— Stephen Full

Full told the service members to reach out to anyone they knew with PTSD and encourage them to seek the help they need. The group thanked Full and chatted with the brothers for a while at their table.

CHICK-FIL-A HONORS SLAIN VIRGINIA TROOPER, A REGULAR CUSTOMER, FOR 'PAYING THE ULTIMATE PRICE'

"Do you know what a small gesture like paying for their meal and thanking a serviceman or woman does to their head and heart?" Stephen asked. "You never know what is going on inside. PTSD is not always visible."

Anyone who's able to should "absolutely" give back to our troops, Stephen said — even if it is something simple.

Jonathan Full (left), Joshua Zamora (middle), Stephen Full (right).

Jonathan Full (left), Joshua Zamora (middle), Stephen Full (right). (Stephen Full)

Dozens of people praised the brothers for honoring their late brother.

"A beautiful gesture of kindness and caring; not surprised at all but truly touched. Thank you for treating them and for providing guidance to others to do the same," one Facebook user commented on Stephen's post.

"This right here is amazing! What a beautiful thing to do!" another added.

"We need more stories like this," a third wrote.

Stephen said his family will celebrate Joshua's life at a memorial service Tuesday in Durham.

"It’s very sad and we miss him dearly. If what my brother and I can do at a Chic-Fil-A can save at least one life from all the sharing on the Internet, then we have done our job," Stephen said.

Source: Fox News National

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O’Rourke candidacy asks: Can a moderate white male win the 2020 Democratic primary?

O'Rourke, the Democratic former Texas congressman, addresses supporters before a march in El Paso
Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic former Texas congressman, addresses supporters before an anti-Trump march in El Paso, Texas, U.S., February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

March 17, 2019

By James Oliphant

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (Reuters) – As he had done at several stops in his first campaign trip as a presidential candidate, Beto O’Rourke on Friday climbed atop a counter at a local Iowa business and addressed a small but adoring crowd. People clapped and cheered. Outside, some waited in the cold, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. 

By that measure, his tour across eastern Iowa last week was largely a success. But by no means was O’Rourke considered a front-runner. And that underscored the challenge he faces as he competes for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

O’Rourke, a former three-term U.S. congressman from Texas, became a celebrity last year when his longshot bid to unseat U.S. Senator Ted Cruz drew national attention and a torrent of money. But ultimately, his fame was not enough.

That loss led some critics to wonder why someone who couldn’t secure a Senate seat would then think he should run for president.

That is not his only obstacle. O’Rourke, 46, is a wealthy, white man from a conservative-leaning state who is more moderate on several key issues than many of his competitors. Given the energy among progressives in the early stages of the race and the diversity of the Democratic field, O’Rourke would appear to be everything that many in party say they do not want.

More than a dozen Democrats have declared their candidacy to take on President Donald Trump in next year’s election, including six women. U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California would make history as the first black woman to gain the nomination. Julian Castro, a former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, would be the first Hispanic to do so. Another contender, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is openly gay.

O’Rourke also must grapple with the enduring popularity of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive who remains a formidable adversary after battling Hillary Clinton in 2016, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who is weighing a presidential bid.

Even so, none of them are on the cover of the latest issue of Vanity Fair, as O’Rourke is. His interview with the magazine sparked controversy on social media last week when he said he was “born” to run for president. Critics also found fault with his oft-repeated joke on the trail about how he “helps” raise his three children with his wife, Amy.

To his detractors, it smacked of white male privilege. O’Rourke grew up affluent, attended the Ivy League’s Columbia University, and married the daughter of a real estate baron. His estimated net personal wealth is more than $9 million.

His image in his race against Cruz, however, belied that background. He fashioned himself as the scrappy underdog, a former punk rocker who was battling the establishment, visiting every county in Texas in a Dodge minivan and holding numerous town halls where he fielded questions from the public.

It was a strategy he took to Iowa last week, going so far as to rent another Dodge minivan that he drove himself and shooting a fundraising video on Facebook of him filling its gas tank.

O’Rourke differed from many of his liberal competitors by talking frequently about how he worked with Republicans in Congress to improve care for veterans in his home town of El Paso, Texas. Asked whether he was a true “progressive,” he referenced President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican.

O’Rourke maintained that his campaign would be relentlessly optimistic – and he only rarely rebuked Trump. “We will not belittle or demean or vilify other candidates,” he said in Mt. Vernon. “We will not define ourselves in contrast to others or say who we are against.”

His policy positions were largely nonspecific. He championed universal health care, immigration reform and combating climate change, but largely said any reforms would have to be pragmatic and incremental.

Occasionally, O’Rourke showed self-awareness of his status as a wealthy, white male, telling crowds that he had been given opportunities denied to minorities and describing the U.S. economic system as imperfect and racist.

He also found that despite the media attention he has received, he was not a household name in Iowa. “I didn’t even know who he was until two days ago,” said Sam Jennison, the owner of the bar in Mount Vernon where O’Rourke held his event.

But for the most part, those who attended his events spoke of him glowingly and dismissed concerns about whether he was progressive enough. “Issues are very important,” said Cathryn Layer, 65, of New London, Iowa. “Winnability is another thing.”

“We need a moderate Democrat, and we probably need a white male because that is not threatening to a lot of people,” said Holly Manon Moore, 65, of Fairfield, Iowa, who said she is undecided in the race and would want a person of color to be the vice-presidential nominee. “If we go too far left, we’re going to lose.”

At the close of his Iowa trip, it remained unclear how O’Rourke’s entrance would reshape the Democratic race. He notably declined to reveal how much money he raised in his first few days as a candidate.

But he did have an impact. At the same time O’Rourke was in eastern Iowa, so was one of his competitors, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. And while the size of the crowd that came to see her on Saturday was comparable to those at O’Rourke’s events, there were far fewer journalists present.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

Source: OANN

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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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