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Barclays International CEO Tim Throsby to leave as part of executive overhaul

The Barclays logo is seen outside a branch of the bank in central London
FILE PHOTO: The Barclays logo is seen outside a branch of the bank in central London October 30, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville

March 27, 2019

(Reuters) – Barclays Plc on Wednesday said the top boss of Barclays International and Barclays Bank Plc, Tim Throsby, had decided to leave the lender as part of wider leadership changes at the banking giant.

“Restructuring is behind us, our major legacy issues are largely dealt with, and our focus now is on running and growing our business,” Group Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley said in a statement.

“I am making some leadership changes to ensure a much stronger and closer focus on the two respective hemispheres of our diversified Group – our Consumer and Wholesale businesses,” he added.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: OANN

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Trump Rails Against 'SNL,' Again, And Suggests 'Retribution' for NBC

Trump Rails Against 'SNL,' Again, And Suggests 'Retribution' for NBC

President Trump once again took aim at "Saturday Night Live," suggesting that there should be a price to pay by TV networks for delivering such scathing satire.

"Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!" Trump wrote on Sunday morning.

On Saturday's show, "SNL" opened with a sketch featuring Alec Baldwin as Trump and mocking the president's declaration of a national emergency to secure funding for a wall along the southern border. The skit skewered Trump's Rose Garden announcement on Friday as a meandering series of pronouncements.

"We need wall, because wall works. Wall makes safe. You don't have to be smart to understand that, and in fact it's even easier to understand if you're not that smart."

This was the seventh tweet that Trump has sent out blasting "Saturday Night Live" since he hosted the show in November 2015 in the midst of his presidential campaign. But he's lately been suggesting that some sort of legal action should be taken against NBC.

"A REAL scandal is the one sided coverage, hour by hour, of networks like NBC & Democrat spin machines like Saturday Night Live. It is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can't be legal? Only defame & belittle! Collusion?" he wrote on Dec. 16.

Some presidents have taken "Saturday Night Live" with good humor. President George H.W. Bush invited Dana Carvey to the White House after Carvey impersonated him on the show during the 1992 presidential campaign. In 1976, Gerald R. Ford all but embraced Chevy Chase's portrayal of him as a klutz by inviting the comedian to the White House and even doing a cameo on "SNL."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Officials: South Carolina school girl died of natural causes

A South Carolina prosecutor says the investigation into the death of a 5th grader last month was due to natural causes and not a fight with another student.

Solicitor Duffie Stone said at a press conference Friday that 10-year-old Raniya Wright died of a congenital condition called an arteriovenous malformation, a tangle of abnormal blood vessels in the brain. The child had repeatedly complained of headaches in the days and weeks before her death.

Stone said that pathology and other scientific reports showed no evidence of trauma to the body that would have indicated the child died of injuries sustained in a fight on March 25.

The child's family had maintained that another fifth grader at Forest Hills Elementary School in Walterboro had hit or pushed the girl.

Source: Fox News National

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Notre Dame Cathedral bees survive devastating fire: ‘Our Lady’s bees are still alive’

Hundreds of thousands of bees that lived on the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris have survived the devastating fire that erupted earlier this week, French beekeepers confirmed.

The approximately 180,000 bees were apparently intoxicated by the smoke of the flames, Notre Dame beekeeper Nicolas Geant told The Associated Press Friday.

“It's a big day. I am so relieved,” he said. “I saw satellite photos that showed the three hives didn't burn.”

NOTRE DAME FIRE LIKELY CAUSED BY ELECTRICAL SHORT-CIRCUIT, INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE

“Instead of killing them, the CO2 (from smoke) makes them drunk, puts them to sleep,” he explained.

Beeopic, a Paris-based urban beekeeping company, posted about the surviving bees on its Instagram page Thursday.

“Our bees at Notre Dame Cathedral are still alive,” the post said in French. “Confirmation from the site managers!! Our Lady’s bees are still alive!”

The day before, the company had posted a satellite picture of the hives that were still intact on the sacristy roof but said the fate of the bees was unknown at the time.

The three beehives were installed in 2013 on the roof of the sacristy at the south end of the cathedral. The sacristy, which is made of stone, sits lower than the cathedral’s main roof — made of wood — which burned and collapsed along with the spire during the fire on Monday.

Even though smoke is harmless to bees — and is often used by beekeepers to sedate the colony to access their hives — excessive heat can kill them by melting the wax that protects the hives. European bees, unlike some other species, stay with their colony in times of danger.

NOTRE DAME WORSHIPERS COULD PRAY IN ‘EPHEMERAL CATHEDRAL’ MADE OF WOOD; SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW SCOPE OF DAMAGE

“When bees sense fire, they gorge themselves on honey and stay to protect their queen, who doesn't move,” Geant explained.

“I saw how big the flames were, so I immediately thought it was going to kill the bees. Even though they were 30 meters [nearly 100 feet] lower than the top roof, the wax in the hives melts at 63 degrees Celsius [145.4 Fahrenheit],” he added.

However, when Notre Dame officials got to the roof, they found the bees buzzing in and out of their hives.

“I wouldn't call it a miracle, but I'm very, very happy,” Geant said.

The hives, which produce about 165 pounds of honey every year, were added to the sacristy as part of a Paris-wide initiative to boost declining bee numbers. Hives were also introduced above Paris’ gilded Opera.

Investigators in Paris said Thursday they believe an electrical short-circuit is most likely the cause behind the massive fire at the cathedral, though an investigation is ongoing.

Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Canada’s golden boy Trudeau sinks in polls as scandal takes toll

FILE PHOTO: Canada's PM Trudeau speaks during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo

April 9, 2019

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) – When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in late 2015, he was a political golden boy who seemed destined to build on the legend of his father, who led the country for more than 15 years.

But six months ahead of an October election, polls suggest the 47-year-old politician with the broad smile and a penchant for colorful socks could become the first prime minister to lose power after a single majority mandate since the 1930s.

Trudeau is mired in a relentless scandal over alleged interference in a corporate corruption case that has led to the resignations of two Cabinet members, his top advisor and the head of the federal civil service.

The ruling Liberals have lost 6 percentage points since the start of the year, ceding the lead to the rival Conservatives, according to a Nanos Research poll published on Tuesday.

If an election were held now, the Conservatives would win 34.9 percent of the vote, the Liberals 32.8 percent and the left-leaning New Democratic Party 16.6 percent. The poll suggests the result would be deadlock or a fragile minority government.

“The Liberals have taken a hit, but they’re still competitive,” said pollster Nik Nanos. “The most significant effect has been the negative impact on the prime minister’s personal brand.”

An Ipsos poll from last month put the Conservatives at 40 percent, 10 points ahead of the Liberals.

Trudeau, the oldest son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, has from the start pushed a progressive agenda in support of gender equality, the environment and aboriginal rights, all issues that appeal to his core voters, but which after more than three years sound increasingly scripted to some.

Trudeau is not helped by the optics of the scandal involving SNC-Lavalin Group Inc, a prominent Montreal-based engineering and construction firm that has been accused of bribing Libyan officials to get contracts between 2001 and 2011.

The prime minister has been on the defensive over allegations government officials inappropriately pressured Canada’s former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to drop a criminal case against the company in favor of a deferred prosecution agreement, or out-of-court settlement.

Wilson-Raybould, the first indigenous justice minister in Canadian history, resigned over the scandal. Former Treasury Board chief Jane Philpott also quit in protest. They were two of the highest-profile women in Trudeau’s Cabinet.

POLITICAL PIVOT

So far, Trudeau’s strategy appears to have changed little, and people close to him say he plans ride it out without major shifts in strategy.

“Successful politicians know when to pivot, and they have a strong survival instinct,” Nanos said, calling the scandal the “first major test of Justin Trudeau’s leadership”.

Ipsos pollster Darrell Bricker said even before the crisis erupted in early February, Trudeau’s support had been softening amid complaints he had broken major commitments such as reforming the voting system and balancing the budget by 2019.

“Justin Trudeau was standing on thin ice at the end of last year, and then somebody handed him an anvil and crash, the ice broke,” Bricker said.

“There’s a credibility problem driven by a bunch of things, one of which is promises made and not kept.”

In a bid to finally put the scandal behind him, Trudeau expelled Wilson-Raybould and Philpott from the Liberal caucus last week.

Neither minister has gone quietly, and on Tuesday Philpott disputed the legitimacy of the expulsions.

On Sunday, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer revealed that Trudeau had threatened to sue him for libel over a Facebook post about the scandal.

(Editing by David Ljunggren and Paul Simao)

Source: OANN

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Beard, Texas Tech live by ‘greatness is a sacrifice’ motto

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-Practice Day
Apr 5, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard during a press conference before practice for the 2019 men's Final Four at US Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

April 5, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS – Being great is a series of sacrifices. Or possibly a continuous case study in self-denial if the ultimate goal is to be a champion.

That’s the hook Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard set for his men’s basketball team in the offseason. Just as Tom Brady can’t recall the last time he had a slice of pizza, Beard wanted his players to understand that decision goes beyond counting calories. And he went big, relatively speaking, to show his players he meant business. He started by punting … beer.

“It hasn’t been easy,” Beard said with a knowing, if sympathetic, nod from rows of media Friday in the bowels of U.S. Bank Stadium. “We make sacrifices every year. Team, players, before we start official practice, we pick this up. LeBron James eliminates social media in the playoffs. I want to say Tom Brady enjoys a beer from time to time, too. He gives it up in an NFL season. It’s just the idea of elite people making sacrifices and having discipline.

“There’s guys on our team that have given up Netflix after 9 p.m. There’s guys on our team that have given up social media. There’s guys that have given up fried food. You basically have to sacrifice something. In our culture, if you say you’re going to do it, you’d better do it, or you’re about to get roasted.

“So me this year, it’s no beer, no desserts, no candy. I haven’t had any ice cream, candy, cake, beer, since the first day of practice. A couple things, though. Did you know a Pop-Tart is not a dessert! It’s a breakfast. I’ve eaten a lot of Pop-Tarts, man, since October.”

Beard knows a thing or two about sacrifice. He said there are “a lot of guys in this Final Four coaching that aren’t getting paid.” Beard said Friday it wasn’t until his fourth job in college basketball that he earned a paycheck.

“You know, you scrap,” he said. “We did private lessons on the side, rebound for guys, and used to cut cardboard boxes behind this grocery store, and then they’d pay — because you could work at any time as long as the boxes were cut by the next morning, and just all sorts of stuff like that. I don’t think coaching is any different, though. I’ve got friends in other professions. You sacrifice. When you find something you love, you sacrifice. None of us do this — [Texas Tech guard] Jarrett Culver doesn’t play — he plays for the love of the game and not what the game does for him, and the same thing for Norense.

“Don’t tell Kirby Hocutt, my AD, this, but I would do this job for free. Do I have y’all’s word that you won’t put that out there?”

Beard won’t be working for free again, but his example caught on at Tech.

Beard, who coached under Bobby Knight at Texas Tech and later was on Pat Knight’s staff, quickly noticed players were following suit.

Odiase, a fifth-year senior, decided to enact blackout periods for cellphone use, especially on the road during the Big 12 season. It started with team bonding in mind but became a mandate with expanded restrictions.

“We played on the road at Oklahoma, and it was a good idea to stay focused, locked in, get some rest, and we went on a big winning streak,” Odiase said. “So ever since then, coach, if we come to — say we play on Saturday and we come on Wednesday, every night, no matter if it’s before the game or not, we’ve been taking the phone up. It’s helped us. Some of the young guys don’t like it, but it’s great to be disciplined and get rest.”

All-Big 12 wing Culver — who smirked through a good-natured ribbing from Beard about perhaps talking to his roommate instead of clinging to his phone — said there was little resistance to the idea of unplugging because the results were undeniable.

“I feel like it’s good for us,” Culver said. “I mean, you don’t have nothing to do. You can’t be on your phone. You’re not on social media, you don’t have your phone. Can’t talk to nobody. So it kind of forces you to get rest and get the sleep you need. I feel like it helps us. Once we went on that run, we just kind of stuck with it as a tradition.”

–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Solar and wind firms call the ‘Green New Deal’ too extreme

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey hold a news conference for their proposed
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) hold a news conference for their proposed "Green New Deal" to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 10 years, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

March 21, 2019

By Valerie Volcovici and Nichola Groom

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. solar and wind power companies may have the most to gain from the Green New Deal, an ambitious proposal backed by several Democratic presidential candidates to end U.S. fossil fuel consumption within a decade.

But do not expect the renewable energy firms to endorse it.

Representatives of America’s clean energy companies are withholding their support for the climate-fighting plan, calling it unrealistic and too politically divisive for an industry keen to grow in both red and blue states.

The cool reaction reflects the difficulty that progressive politicians vying for the White House may have in selling aggressive global-warming policy to the business community and more moderate voters.

It also underscores a new reality for U.S. solar and wind power companies long associated with the environmental left: As they have improved technology and lowered prices, their growth is shifting from politically liberal coastal states to the more conservative heartland, where skepticism of climate change and government subsidies runs high.

“If you just broadly endorse the Green New Deal, you are liable to upset one side of the aisle or the other. And that’s not constructive,” said Tom Werner, the CEO of SunPower Corp, one of the nation’s biggest solar power companies.

“The idea that you could go 100 percent (clean energy) in 10 years would require a lot of things happening perfectly, simultaneously,” he said. “You’d have to have bipartisan support, 52-state support.”

The Green New Deal was introduced last month by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat Congresswoman from New York, along with fellow Democrat Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts. It has since become the center of a renewed debate in Washington about how vigorously the government must act to address climate change.

The Congressional resolution, which has no force of law, calls for the federal government to make investments to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in a decade by meeting 100 percent of America’s power demand with clean, renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, or geothermal energy.

It also calls for massive investments in green infrastructure projects like “smart grids” to improve efficiency, along with a guarantee of millions of high-wage jobs with paid vacations, medical leave and retirement security. The resolution does not get into detail about how subsequent legislation would achieve these goals.

So far, at least eight Democratic presidential hopefuls – including senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota – have endorsed the plan as they seek to stand in stark opposition to the pro-drilling policies of President Donald Trump.

Trump’s fellow Republicans have widely panned the Green New Deal, saying it would cost trillions of dollars of taxpayer money, may be technically unfeasible, and smacks of radical socialism.

Rhiana Gunn Wright, founder of the think tank New Consensus, which is drawing up Green New Deal policies, said her group will not estimate costs of the plan until it is more fully drafted next year. She said opponents’ estimates are premature and do not account for the benefits of climate action and the costs of inaction.

The feasibility of the proposal has been a source of concern for the clean energy industry, too.

“We love the enthusiasm the Green New Deal has brought to the climate issue … but we need to operate in political reality,” said Dan Whitten, vice president of public affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association, the solar industry’s main lobby group.

Another concern is the fact that the plan extends beyond energy and climate policies to include guarantees of jobs, training and healthcare for communities affected by climate change, said Greg Wetstone, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy, a non-profit organization promoting renewable energy industries.

“It creates controversy and complexity, tying this to issues that are not in our sphere,” he said.

Representatives of renewable energy firms Sunrun and Sunnova Energy said they were happy the Green New Deal was drawing so much attention to clean industry but stopped short of endorsing the plan.

“The Green New Deal has sparked an important conversation, and we’re excited to be part of it,” said Alex McDonough, Vice President of Public Policy at Sunrun.

INROADS IN TRUMP COUNTRY

The U.S. solar and wind industries have expanded over the last decade, thanks to lucrative government subsidies, and now employ some 350,000 workers nationwide – more than four times more than the coal sector, according to the 2019 U.S. Energy and Employment Report released this month.

While the growth began in liberal-leaning regions such as California and New England, it has more recently come in states that voted heavily for President Donald Trump in 2016, including Texas, North Carolina, Iowa and Florida, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and SEIA.

That has helped strengthen the industry’s appeal to Republican lawmakers, allowing it to rebrand as a jobs engine in addition to a tool for combating global warming. And during the last election cycle in 2018, solar and wind companies contributed significantly more money to Republican candidates than to their traditional Democratic allies.

“We have raised these industries above science experiments and feel-goodery, and we are now real businesses and can’t just play to one half of the country,” said one renewable sector lobbyist, who asked not to be named discussing the topic.

“Staying out of the line of fire is the goal of most companies and trade associations,” said another clean energy industry representative. “There will be a real danger for our industry and companies if they are shouting out about the Green New Deal from the rooftops.”

The Sunrise Movement, a grassroots group that brought the Green New Deal into the national spotlight by holding demonstrations and confronting lawmakers on video, said it was aware of the reticence of green energy companies to back their proposal.

“We’ve met with companies and industries who could have a lot to gain from the Green New Deal, but the politics at this stage are too difficult to navigate,” Sunrise co-founder Evan Weber said.

He said Sunrise had met with the SEIA and AWEA, along with other executives.

Weber said industry support for the Green New Deal would be welcomed but is not vital: “We don’t expect all of them to be a strong advocate for the Green New Deal until the politics shift.”

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Nichola Groom; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot)

Source: OANN

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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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