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Trolleybus-tram collision injures dozens Czech city of Brno

Authorities say a head-on collision between a streetcar and a trolleybus in the Czech Republic's second-largest city has injured up to 40 people.

Firefighters said the crash on a busy downtown street in Brno Monday afternoon injured passengers on the bus and the streetcar was empty except for the driver.

Rescue service spokeswoman Michaela Bothova said at least people suffered serious injuries.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Source: Fox News World

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Popularity sky-high, Mexico’s president runs a one-man show

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gestures during his daily news conference at National Palace in Mexico City
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gestures during his daily news conference at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero

March 10, 2019

By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Three months into his presidency, Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has already spent more time facing the press corps than his predecessor did in his entire six-year term.

And the people love it.

Standing at the center of a stage for his news conferences at 7 a.m. every weekday, Lopez Obrador has used the platform to swat at initial skepticism from financial markets and cement his hold on Mexico after a landslide election win last summer.

The president’s approval rates are soaring. But if in time things go wrong, he will still be out in front on his own.

Dictating debate much as U.S. President Donald Trump has via Twitter, the news conferences have muscled aside breakfast news programming and reduced other political leaders, including his own cabinet, to bystanders at Lopez Obrador’s parade.

“There’s nothing between him and the people, not even oxygen,” said Jesus Ortega, an erstwhile ally who ran the 2006 presidential campaign that Lopez Obrador lost by a whisker.

As promised, the veteran leftist has slashed public sector pay, given up presidential perks and launched one welfare program after another at rallies around the country, replacing existing social security schemes with more direct transfers.

Throughout, he has kept a steady stream of verbal fire trained on dissenting voices or checks on his power, including critical media, civil society groups or independent regulatory bodies – while reaffirming his belief in free speech and transparency.

Relentlessly hammering home his commitment to end Mexico’s chronic inequality, he has often used his media gatherings to denounce previous “neo-liberal” administrations he accuses of ruining Mexico, such as that of his predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto, who very rarely faced reporters at live news conferences.

Voters have lapped it up.

“He’s doing well,” said Joel Carrillo, a 52-year-old car valet in Mexico City who supports Lopez Obrador. “He’s taking away lots of privileges from the politicians.”

In his July election, Lopez Obrador triumphed with 53 percent of the vote. Now, as his administration reaches the 100-day mark on Sunday, the president has the support of almost four out of five Mexicans, according to one recent opinion poll.

“For the moment, he is completely invulnerable and completely indestructible,” said Agustin Barrios Gomez, a former lawmaker and board member of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI). “He owns the country.”

Financial markets are not impressed.

Rating agencies have issued a series of warnings that Mexico’s creditworthiness may be downgraded if Lopez Obrador cannot turn around state oil firm Pemex, which ended 2018 with more than $100 billion of financial debt.

Lopez Obrador said the agencies were punishing Mexico for failed policies from the “neo-liberal” era. Still, a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president was more concerned than he let on about the agencies’ views.

If economic problems do arise, Lopez Obrador would struggle to evade blame, said car valet Carrillo.

“He’s not taking help from his ministers,” he said. “He’s taking all the responsibility on himself.”

ACHILLES’ HEEL

Diplomats, politicians and members of his own government tend to agree the economy is Lopez Obrador’s Achilles’ heel.

The president has pushed consumer confidence to its highest level since at least 2001. But that has yet to translate into tangible gains for the economy. Forecasters are paring back their growth expectations for 2019.

Car sales dropped in February by over 5 percent. By Friday, Mexico’s main share index had fallen for 10 consecutive days. Meanwhile, the latest data for Mexican retail sales and fixed capital investment showed significant declines in December.

Business leaders were furious when Lopez Obrador scrapped a part-built, $13 billion new Mexico City airport and triggered billions of dollars of losses on Mexican markets. His steps to undo measures by Pena Nieto aimed at luring private capital to the oil and gas industry further soured sentiment.

Lopez Obrador argued the airport was tainted by corruption. And he has long espoused the belief Mexico must keep its own oil – even if he has yet to entirely rule out continuing the auctions of oil and gas fields that Pena Nieto started.

The problem for Mexico, said Barrios Gomez at COMEXI, is that the rhetoric of Lopez Obrador and his more ideological allies have almost made investment a dirty word.

“When somebody says investment, in their minds they translate it as bourgeoisie getting rich,” he said.

And the more moderate aides were unlikely to pick a fight with Lopez Obrador over the economy because they owed him their jobs, noted Ortega, his former campaign chief.

For now, the president would continue to blame previous governments for economic difficulties, he added. But in due course, others would pay the price.

“When something goes wrong, he won’t hesitate to make heads roll,” said Ortega.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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Deutsche Telekom says customers, operators pay price for 5G auction

Tim Hoettges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG stands in front of regular GSM antenna equipped with 5G technology of multi-national network infrastructure provider Commscope during the company's AGM in Bonn
Timotheus Hoettges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG, stands in front of a regular GSM antenna equipped with 5G technology of multi-national network infrastructure provider Commscope during the company's annual shareholder meeting in Bonn, Germany March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

April 10, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – The CEO of Deutsche Telekom criticized the amount companies will have to pay to get fifth generation mobile internet spectrum in Germany as the amount of total bids approached 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) on Wednesday.

“This money is taken away from the customers, citizens and operators,” Timotheus Hoettges said at a conference in Berlin.

“You can only spend the euro once,” he said, adding that 4.6 billion euros equal 23,000 mobile sites that the industry cannot build.

(Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik; writing by Thomas Seythal; editing by Tassilo Hummel)

Source: OANN

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House Dem asks IRS for 6 years of Trump’s tax returns, setting up showdown with White House

A House committee chairman has formally requested the IRS provide six years of President Donald Trump's personal and business tax returns, setting up an inevitable legal showdown with the White House and underscoring Democrats' continued efforts to shed light on the president's finances.

The request Wednesday by Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, who heads the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, is the first such demand for a sitting president's tax information in 45 years.

Neal made the request in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, asking for Trump's personal and business returns for 2013 through 2018.

“It is critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials," Neal said in a statement. "To maintain trust in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is operating properly, as laws intend."

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., arrives for a Democratic Caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, on April 2, 2019. Rep. Neal, whose committee has jurisdiction over all tax issues, has formally requested President Donald Trump's tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service for the past 6 years. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., arrives for a Democratic Caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, on April 2, 2019. Rep. Neal, whose committee has jurisdiction over all tax issues, has formally requested President Donald Trump's tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service for the past 6 years. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Neal specifically demanded the federal income tax returns from eight entities, including Trump National Golf Club-Bedminster, as well as statements specifying whether the returns were ever under audit. Neal also demanded all administrative files, including affidavits, related to each return.

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Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., followed up with a statement backing up his counterpart in the House.

“The law is crystal clear—the Treasury Department must provide tax returns to the Ways & Means and Finance Committees when the chairman requests them. I expect the Treasury Department to comply in a timely manner,” Wyden said. “Chairman Grassley should make the same request so Senate Finance Committee members are also able to access them.”

Fox News' Mike Emanuel, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Futures flat after weak Europe data, trade talks eyed

FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

April 4, 2019

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday following a recent run of gains, as lack of fresh developments on trade talks with China and worries about global economic growth kept risk appetite in check.

Negotiations continued in Washington on Wednesday after meetings last week in Beijing, as the two sides worked toward resolving their long-standing trade dispute which has cast a shadow over global economic growth.

President Donald Trump is set to meet Vice Premier Liu He, who is leading the Chinese side in the talks later in the day.

Hopes that the two countries will strike a deal have driven the S&P 500 to a strong first-quarter performance and it has closed higher all of this week. The index is near its highest level since Oct. 10 and is less than 2% away from hitting an all-time high.

Countering the optimism has been a set of lackluster data. Germany’s industrial orders in February fell at their sharpest rate in more than two years and 2019 growth forecasts were slashed by more than half by leading economic institutes in Europe’s biggest economy.

U.S. data on Wednesday showed services sector activity hit a more than 19-month low in March and private payrolls grew less than expected. Investors will get a clearer picture when the Labor Department releases the non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

A separate report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is likely to show that initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 5,000 to 216,000 applications for the week ended March 30.

At 7:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.25 points, or 0.01% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 4.25 points, or 0.06%.

Stocks closed higher on Wednesday as chipmakers rallied on trade hopes and bullish reports on revival of chip demand, taking the Philadelphia Semiconductor index to a record high.

Micron Technology Inc, after closing up more than 3% on Wednesday, fell 3.3% in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley downgraded the chipmaker’s stock to “underweight” from “equal-weight”.

Tesla Inc dropped 8% after the electric carmaker’s deliveries fell 31% in the first quarter on challenges in shipping to Europe and China.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Source: OANN

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US Backtracks on Sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Days After Terror Designation

Earlier, the US formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military unit a foreign terrorist organization, with Tehran responding by placing first US Central Command and then the entire US military on its own list of terrorist groups.

The US State Department has waived a ban on US travel to government officials, businessmen, and workers of non-governmental organizations that have dealings with the IRGC, two notices outlined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the Federal Register’s website have indicated.

Specifically, the exceptions allow individuals working with the US in Iraq and Lebanon to also maintain contacts with the IRGC without repercussions. Iran and the US each engage in diplomatic and military efforts in both countries, including in the fight against ISIS and other widely recognized terrorist groups.

Pompeo specified that the travel ban waivers were based in US national security and foreign policy interests.

In one of the two explanatory notes, the secretary of state noted the sanctions wouldn’t apply “to any business, organization, or group, whether public or private, solely based on its provision of material support to any foreign government sub-entity that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization.” In the other, he indicated that the sanctions wouldn’t apply “to any ministry, department, agency, division or other group or subgroup within any foreign government” unless they were already covered by existing US restrictions.


Greg Reese joins Harrison to speak on the Restart Iran topic.

The exemptions are significant and unusual, because under US law, foreigners believed to have provided “material support” to organizations designated as foreign “terrorist” groups are traditionally banned from entry into the country.

The notices confirm an earlier Reuters report, citing three officials familiar with the matter, which indicated that foreigners working with the IRGC wouldn’t necessarily face US travel restrictions.

The US IRGC ‘terrorist organization’ took effect on April 15, one week after President Trump announced that the US would be making the decision. The controversial move, which contradicts the traditional definition of a terrorist as a non-state actor, was the first time that Washington designated a portion of a foreign state’s military as a ‘terrorist’ group.

News of the exemption also comes amid a report by AP citing anonymous officials, congressional aides and advisors familiar with the matter who said that the administration may allow for loophole workarounds to Iranian oil exports if the White House doesn’t renew import exemptions on Iranian oil once the May 2 deadline granting waivers to countries including China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey expires.

(Photo by Gage Skidmore / Wiki)

Officials from China and Turkey have already indicated that they would look for ways to continue imports even if the sanctions waivers are not renewed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday that he doesn’t think Trump wants a war with Iran, but warned that he might be ‘goaded’ into one by individuals like National Security Advisor John Bolton or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Accusing the US of pursuing a “very dangerous” policy toward Tehran, Zarif said Trump was wrong if he thought sanctions could get Iran to change course, quipping that Iranians were “allergic to pressure.”

Traditionally poor diplomatic relations between Iran and the US took a turn for the worse in May 2018, after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed several rounds of tough sanctions, including oil restrictions meant to drive the country’s energy exports down “to zero.” Tehran has responded by saying it would continue oil exports, and threatened that it would blockade the Strait of Hormuz waterway carrying a fifth of the world’s oil supplies if threatened. The US and Iran have not enjoyed normal diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.


Owen Shroyer delivers an epic rant about the U.S. soldiers who were disrespected at the southern border by members of the Mexican Army.

Source: InfoWars

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South Sudan spends millions on cars, homes instead of peace

Documents seen by The Associated Press show that South Sudan's committee overseeing the fragile transition from civil war has approved almost $185 million in spending on vehicles, food and home renovations while the country's peace deal suffers from an alleged lack of funds.

As the East African nation emerges from a five-year conflict that killed almost 400,000 people and displaced millions, experts warn the government's lack of financial transparency will gut the confidence of international donors being encouraged to donate to the peace transition fund.

The internal government documents show that on Nov. 5, two months after warring parties signed the peace deal, the committee that includes government and opposition representatives authorized payments for 1,000 vehicles and food including 50,000 tons of sorghum to be delivered to the capital, Juba.

Source: Fox News World

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

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Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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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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