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UK diplomat swipes at French ambassador over dig on US relations: ‘We will not take any lessons’

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt fired back at a claim by the outgoing French ambassador to the U.S. that Britain’s influence in Washington, D.C. has “vanished” -- saying the U.K. “will not take any lessons” from the French in having good relations with America.

“Mon cher ami [Gerard Araud] I am sure you enjoyed making hay with the UK's temporary Brexit travails but until there is a French President's bust in the Oval Office we will not take any lessons in having good relations with Washington,” Hunt tweeted, along with a picture of President Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May standing next to the bust of former PM Winston Churchill.

TRUMP TO VISIT UK, FRANCE IN JUNE FOR D-DAY ANNIVERSARY

His tweet was attached with a winking emoji, indicating the tweet was perhaps meant to be taken lightly -- but it comes after Araud, who is leaving his post as France’s representative to Washington, said that British influence has disappeared.

“The UK has vanished,” Araud told The Financial Times. “The British ambassador told me — and I loved it — that every time the British military is meeting with the American military, the Americans are talking about the French.”

Araud has been on something of a tear as he departs the capital, giving a series of interviews in which he has weighed in on current affairs in often-undiplomatic language.

In an interview with Foreign Policy last week, he drew a stark contrast between the presidencies of Barack Obama and Trump.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR BLASTS 'BIG MOUTH' TRUMP, SAYS HE READS 'BASICALLY NOTHING'

“On one side, you had this ultimate bureaucrat, an introvert, basically a bit aloof, a restrained president. A bit arrogant also but basically somebody who every night was going to bed with 60-page briefings and the next day they were sent back annotated by the president,” he said, referring to Obama.

“And suddenly you have this president who is an extrovert, really a big mouth, who reads basically nothing or nearly nothing, with the interagency process totally broken and decisions taken from the hip basically.”

Outgoing Ambassador of France to the United States Gerard Araud has said the British influence in Washington has "vanished." (Photo by Amanda Edwards/WireImage)

Outgoing Ambassador of France to the United States Gerard Araud has said the British influence in Washington has "vanished." (Photo by Amanda Edwards/WireImage)

Both Britain and France have had tumultuous relationships with the U.S. since Trump entered the White House. The White House announced Tuesday that Trump will travel to both countries in June to mark the anniversary of the D-Day landings -- which will include a state visit to London.

Trump has repeatedly backed Britain’s departure from the European Union, and recently called for a “large scale Trade Deal with the United Kingdom” once it leaves, but has also criticized May’s handling of the negotiations.

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Meanwhile, Trump described French President Emmanuel Macron as “perfect” when he visited the White House last year, before the relationship soured over issues such as NATO funding, tariffs and Trump’s decision to begin withdrawing from Syria.

Macron would go on to mull a European army to "protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America” -- which led Trump to point to the French surrender to Germany in World War II, and to knock Macron’s low approval ratings.

Source: Fox News Politics

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New report sheds light on alleged UNHCR bribes for refugee resettlement to the West

Many have fled homelands plagued by corruption and crime, only to allegedly be confronted with the same miscarriages of justice from the people paid to protect them in a refugee camp.

A new investigative report collaboratively produced by NBC, Journalists for Transparency, and the nonprofit 100Reporters, sheds particular light on the testimony of one man, identified only as Mamadou, who fled an unidentified country for Uganda’s sprawling Nakivale refugee settlement after being gang-raped and tortured by prison officials. But at the resettlement, he and scores of others alleged that the pattern of profiteering continued – and this time, the authorities expected bribes to do everything from process medical and police referrals to gathering food rations.

MALE RAPE EMERGING AS ONE OF THE MOST UNDER-REPORTED WEAPONS OF WAR

But the steepest cost? Being in the running to be resettled in a Western country, as facilitated by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, which allegedly meant individuals could be slapped with secret payments up to $5000 for a family, which were allegedly then distributed among UNHCR staff and brokers, according to the report.

A Syrian man feeds his child behind a UNHCR plastic sheet at Ritsona refugee camp, north of Athens, which hosts about 600 refugees and migrants on Sept. 8, 2016.  (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian man feeds his child behind a UNHCR plastic sheet at Ritsona refugee camp, north of Athens, which hosts about 600 refugees and migrants on Sept. 8, 2016.  (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

Fearing retaliation or being cut off from needed services, much of the corruption is said to have gone unreported.

Moreover, other survivors of sexual violence who raised red flags over the alleged corruption at Nakivale concurred that they “only suffered more” after having attempted to report the layers of corruption. They accused the UNHCR’s Inspector General’s office of “lacking the independence, local knowledge and desire to properly investigate” their claims.

HOW A SURVIVOR OF A SOUTH AFRICAN 'FARM MURDER' IS FIGHTING BACK

UNHCR spokesperson Cecile Pouilly rejected the characterization, insisting that “every report or allegation of fraud, corruption, or retaliation against refugees by UNHCR personnel or those working for our partners is thoroughly assessed, and, if substantiated, results in disciplinary sanctions, including summary dismissal from the organization.”

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Last year, a documented 49 percent of the 144 investigations conducted by the agency were substantiated, an uptick from the previous year.

A representative for the UN did not respond to a Fox News request for further comment.

Source: Fox News World

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CEO Sloan pitches Wells Fargo turnaround to bank critics in Congress

Wells Fargo & Company CEO and President Tim Sloan testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Wells Fargo & Company CEO and President Tim Sloan testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 3, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

March 12, 2019

By Imani Moise and Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co Chief Executive Tim Sloan, who has been campaigning to prove his bank has moved past its scandals, appeared in Congress on Tuesday before newly empowered Democratic lawmakers who are taking aim at Wall Street.

Sloan is the first bank executive grilled by the House Financial Services Committee since it was taken over by Democrats following the 2018 congressional election. A nervous Wall Street is keen to see how hostile the panel will be towards the industry.

The hearing could see Sloan clash with panel chair and vocal bank critic Maxine Waters, as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rookie lawmaker and leading voice of her party’s progressive wing. Fellow freshman Katie Porter likewise built her campaign on bashing Wall Street.

Republicans have also criticized Wells Fargo, and will likely want proof the fourth-largest U.S. bank has addressed customer abuses.

The CEOs of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp are expected to appear before the House panel next month.

Stakes are high for 31-year Wells Fargo veteran Sloan, who was appointed CEO when John Stumpf retired soon after the sales practices scandal erupted in 2016. Sloan has faced calls to step down from investors and politicians, including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential contender.

Wells Fargo shares were up 0.3 percent as the hearing started.

Sloan’s prepared remarks emphasized changes the bank has made to culture, sales practices and risk management, as well as efforts to repay wronged customers.

“Wells Fargo is a better bank than it was three years ago, and we are working every day to become even better,” Sloan, 58, will say, according to testimony published by the bank on Monday.

Lawmakers could also ask about the bank’s decision to cut thousands of U.S. jobs, its pledge to boost stock buybacks and its forced arbitration policy for customers.

Spokespeople for Waters and Ocasio-Cortez declined or did not respond to comment requests. Porter said in a statement on Monday that Sloan has “a lot to prove” to show Wells Fargo has turned a corner.

If lawmakers are unhappy with what they hear, they could pressure the Federal Reserve to maintain restrictions imposed on the bank’s growth until governance and risk management improve.

Sloan has not appeared before Congress since a 2017 Senate hearing, where he clashed with lawmakers from both parties.

Wells Fargo has since deployed more lobbyists in Washington and launched a public relations offensive, but remains in politicians’ crosshairs.

The 2016 revelation that Wells Fargo created millions of fake customer accounts prompted regulatory probes into mortgage foreclosures, auto insurance sales and its wealth management businesses, resulting in billions of dollars in fines.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Imani Moise; Editing by Michelle Price and Meredith Mazzilli)

Source: OANN

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Police: Colorado man wanted another woman to kill fiancee

A man charged with murder in the death of his missing fiancee tried to convince a woman he was having an affair with to commit the killing, investigators testified Tuesday.

Patrick Frazee was in a Colorado court for a hearing to determine whether he will stand trial in Kelsey Berreth's death. Testimony revealed that police initially found no evidence of foul play inside Berreth's home but later discovered traces of blood belonging to the 29-year-old flight instructor in several places in her bathroom.

The woman has not been found since she disappeared on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22.

Authorities had released little information about what led to Frazee's arrest a month later until Tuesday's hearing, which requires prosecutors to convince a judge that their evidence merits a criminal trial.

Testimony on Tuesday still did not reveal prosecutors' theory for a motive why Frazee would kill Berreth or how she died.

Her parents argue in a wrongful death lawsuit filed last week that they believe Frazee wanted full custody of the couple's 1-year-old daughter. The child has remained with them while the criminal case against Frazee proceeds.

The case relies heavily on the cooperation of Krystal Jean Lee Kenney, a 32-year-old woman from Idaho, who has pleaded guilty to helping thwart the investigation by tampering with evidence in the case. She has agreed to testify against Frazee.

Dramatic testimony on Tuesday revealed that Kenney admitted beginning a romantic relationship with Frazee in March 2018. Bureau of Investigation Agent Gregg Slater testified that Kenney told police Frazee claimed that Berreth was abusing the couple's daughter, although Slater said there was no evidence that was true.

Kenney said Frazee suggested multiple ways that she could kill Berreth, including poisoning her coffee or striking her in the head with a metal rod and a baseball bat, Slater said.

Kenney told police she wanted to please Frazee and feared that he would harm her or her family if she did not cooperate. Kenney told police she did not follow through on any of Frazee's plans, Slater said.

Berreth's body has not been found. Investigators initially said she was last seen on surveillance video with the couple's daughter at a grocery store near her home in Woodland Park, a mountain town near Colorado Springs, south of Denver.

Police later found footage on a neighbor's surveillance camera showing Berreth, Frazee and their daughter at the entrance of Berreth's townhome later that afternoon.

Much of prosecutors' evidence hinges on cellphone tower data, suggesting Berreth's phone was in the possession of either Frazee or Kenney after Nov. 22, the date Frazee told police he last saw Berreth.

Frazee, 32, has not entered a plea and has been jailed since his arrest. Prosecutors this week added a charge accusing Frazee of tampering with a deceased body and two charges of committing a crime of violence, which would let the state request a harsher penalty on conviction.

Source: Fox News National

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Thousands rally in Mali to protest ethnic violence

People gather to protest the government and international forces' failure to stem rising ethnic and jihadist violence, in the Malian capital of Bamako
People gather to protest the government and international forces' failure to stem rising ethnic and jihadist violence, in the Malian capital of Bamako, Mali April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Matthieu Rosier

April 5, 2019

BAMAKO (Reuters) – Thousands rallied in the Malian capital Bamako on Friday to protest at the failure of the government and international peacekeepers to stem rising ethnic and jihadist violence, notably the massacre of around 160 villagers last month.

The protest was one of the largest in Mali in recent years.

It followed the March 23 massacre by suspected militiamen from the Dogon ethnic group of rival Fulani herders in the village of Ogossagou, the deadliest act of ethnic bloodshed in West Africa’s Sahel region in living memory.

Six years after French forces intervened to halt a jihadist advance from Mali’s desert north, the violence has spread across the Sahel, an arid region between the Sahara desert and Africa’s savannas, to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

While helmeted riot police looked on, protesters held signs calling on Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and the United Nations MINUSMA peacekeeping mission to leave.

Keita has responded to the attack on the Fulanis by disbanding an anti-jihadist vigilante group, whose fighters are suspected of being behind the massacre.

Over 200 people had been killed by anti-jihadist self-defense groups in Mali since the start of this year, according to the United Nations, which has dispatched human rights experts to investigate the March attack.

Friday’s march of religious, civil society and opposition leaders reflects growing frustration at the escalating violence.

“We hold the government responsible for the deterioration of the situation,” said former minister Hamadoun Dicko.

Friday’s march was largely peaceful, although at one point police fired tear gas and some protesters threw stones in response. Organizers have called for another protest next week.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo, Souleymane Ag Anara, Fadima Kontao and Cheick Diouara; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: OANN

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Waves of migrant parents and children enter overtaxed system

A mother cradled a crying toddler as she waited in line with 20 other women to shower. Dozens of fathers quietly held their children's hands in an enclosure made of chain-link fencing.

While these families were held at an overcrowded Border Patrol processing center, a fresh wave of migrants crossed the nearby river separating the U.S. and Mexico and waited for border agents to bring them to the same facility. One Honduran woman carried a feverish 7-month-old baby.

The cycle is repeated multiple times a day. Waves of desperate families are trying to cross the border almost hourly and entering an overtaxed government detention system.

The Border Patrol has become so overwhelmed in feeding and caring for the migrants that it announced plans this week to start releasing some families onto the street in the Rio Grande Valley to ease overcrowding in the processing center, providing the immigrants with a notice to appear at an upcoming court date.

"We have an unprecedented crisis upon us," Robert Perez, deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol's parent agency, said in an interview.

The Border Patrol says it made about 66,000 apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally in February, including 36,000 parents and children, an all-time monthly high.

Immigration authorities expect the number of parents and children to surpass 50,000 in March during the traditional spring spike in migration and potentially reach 180,000 in May, according to two U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal documents.

The Border Patrol ordered expanded medical screenings after the December deaths of two children in its custody. The agency received $30 million to upgrade its South Texas processing center and additional funding to build a similar facility in El Paso.

The autopsy results for Jakelin Caal and Felipe Gomez Alonzo have not yet been released, but Customs and Border Protection has said both children were hospitalized after developing high fevers and nausea.

Children with fevers, colds and the flu arrive daily at the border with their parents and sometimes wait for hours for the Border Patrol to pick them up.

On a recent Thursday, Carmen Mejia's 7-month-old, Lian, was feverish, one of four sick children in her group of 20. His mother had heard about Jakelin and Felipe before leaving her rural town in northern Honduras.

"It made me sad," she said. "But imagine. I'm here, also looking for a future for my son."

Mejia said she hoped to find work to support Lian and two older children she had left behind with her mother.

While she spoke, two more waves of people arrived. The group grew to around 50 before the Border Patrol could load everyone into vans and take them into detention.

Some migrants blamed extortion for forcing them to close small businesses. Others said gangs had killed close relatives and threatened to kill them.

President Donald Trump's administration says most adult border crossers are economic migrants who count on being released if they bring a child and seek asylum. Immigration agency officials have called for Congress to change laws that would allow them to detain more adults and children and deport people from Central America quicker.

Trump's signature solution — and the reason for his declaration of a national emergency — is a border wall, especially in South Texas, where there are comparatively few barriers. But a border wall would not stop families who aren't trying to evade immigration authorities. Those families typically stop after crossing the Rio Grande and wait to be caught.

The Associated Press visited the South Texas processing center where many migrants end up. It's an old warehouse, with overhead lighting that stays on around the clock and chain-link fencing that forms large cages.

Detainees are issued mats and foil blankets to sleep on the concrete floor. Each detainee receives a medical screening.

Dozens of children waited on their own. Many were 10 years of age or older and kept separately from their parents, who are in another wing of the facility at the same time.

Some of the children waiting on their own talked among themselves. Others tried to sleep on mats under the glare of the lights, their foil blankets crinkling.

The facility received worldwide attention last June, during the Trump administration's enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy that led to thousands of family separations. Around 1,100 people were detained at the facility then, many of them children who had been separated from their parents.

The facility opened in 2014 during the Obama administration to address another surge of thousands of unaccompanied teenagers arriving from Central America.

Now the processing center and other facilities in the sector deal with parents bringing young children and pregnant women who sometimes go into labor in detention.

"It isn't meant for families," said Carmen Qualia, an assistant chief patrol agent for the sector. "We're set up for individuals."

Agency guidelines require that parents are detained for no longer than 72 hours before being released or transferred to long-term detention centers with beds and more facilities. The average detention time for families late last week was about 60 hours.

Most families are eventually bused to a Catholic Charities facility in McAllen, where volunteers provide food and medical checkups before taking them to the bus station or airport.

The future of that facility is in jeopardy after McAllen city commissioners last month ordered Catholic Charities to vacate it by May, after complaints from neighbors.

But the Border Patrol is relying on the facility more than ever. While a few hundred people are sent there daily, immigration authorities dropped 800 migrants at Catholic Charities in just one day this week, leading to volunteers posting pleas on social media for donations and help.

Inside a small clinic behind the main building, Dr. Martin Garza listened to the heartbeat and lungs of 1-month-old Cesar Manuel Romero, cradled by his mother, 21-year-old Lily Romero of Honduras. Romero said she gave birth to Cesar on a bus as it passed through Monterrey, Mexico.

After crossing the border, Romero said they were taken to a smaller Border Patrol station — what she and other Spanish-speaking migrants often refer to as "la hielera," or the icebox. She said another woman in custody loaned her a sweater so she could keep Cesar warm because agents had taken many of her belongings.

She said they were given water that was "nearly frozen." Afterward, they were taken to the processing center and eventually released to Catholic Charities.

The Border Patrol says its facilities follow agency detention guidelines and that it investigates any complaints of mistreatment.

Garza said agents and medical professionals inside detention almost always diagnose major illnesses or injuries. But colds and fevers persist, along with conditions that aren't obvious, he said.

"Infants are wheezing. Infants are having trouble breathing, and some of those things may not get picked up," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Philippines’ Duterte warns of harsher drugs war ahead

FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival in Davao
FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival, from a visit in Israel and Jordan at Davao International airport in Davao City in southern Philippines, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr.

February 20, 2019

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Wednesday that his signature anti-narcotics campaign will be even harsher in the future, signaling no let-up in a bloody crackdown that has alarmed the international community.

Duterte won the presidency by a wide margin in 2016 on promises of eradicating drugs and crime, and recent opinion polls indicate broad support for him and for the crackdown, despite widespread allegations of police cover-ups and summary killings resulting from weak intelligence.

Duterte said the drugs problem was a national security issue.

“I will not allow my country to end up a failed state because of drugs,” he said in a speech.

He did not elaborate on how he would intensify a campaign that had already seen more than 5,000 people killed by police since he took office.

Human rights groups say many of those deaths were executions of people suspected of selling or using drugs, which police deny, insisting the killings were in self-defense.

Critics, including the Catholic Church, say the campaign has overwhelmingly targeted the urban poor and left drug kingpins largely untouched.

Asked by reporters later if the crackdown would be bloodier, Duterte said: “I think so.”

A poll last week showed that about two thirds of Filipinos believed there were fewer drug users in their community now than last year. Most respondents said it was vital for police to arrest suspects alive and believed police agreed.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Edited by Martin Petty)

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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