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Dollar off six-week lows versus yen, little response to Mueller report

Illustration photo of a U.S. Dollar note
A U.S. Dollar note is seen in this June 22, 2017 illustration photo. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration

March 25, 2019

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar edged back from a six-week low against the yen early on Monday, as a degree of calm returned to the market gripped by fears of a recession in the United States.

The greenback had tumbled on Friday as the spread between 3-month Treasury bills and 10-year note yields inverted for the first time since 2007 following weak U.S. manufacturing PMI data.

An inverted yield curve has historically signaled an impending recession.

Cautious comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve last week had also raised worries about the growth outlook in the United States and the rest of the world.

The dollar was up roughly 0.2 percent at 110.13 yen after sinking to 109.745 on Friday, its lowest since Feb. 11.

“The dollar’s slide on Friday appeared to have been an algo-led reaction to the yield curve inversion and quite simply overdone. Some bargain hunting by market participants emerged to support dollar/yen,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

“The response, on the other hand, to the Mueller report has been limited.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russia, and did not present enough evidence to warrant charging Trump with obstruction of justice, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Sunday.

The dollar index was unchanged at 96.651 after scraping out a gain of 0.15 percent on Friday.

The euro was little changed at $1.1297. The common currency has lost roughly 0.7 percent on Friday after a much weaker-than-expected German manufacturing survey raised concerns for Europe’s biggest economy and the wider euro zone.

The Australian dollar, viewed as liquid proxy for global growth, stood little changed at $0.7077.

The pound was 0.1 percent lower at $1.3200

Sterling had rallied 0.8 percent on Friday, helped by a weaker euro and after European Union leaders gave British Prime Minister Theresa May a two-week reprieve to decide how Britain will leave the European Union.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Figure skating: Reigning champions to battle for men’s crown at worlds

FILE PHOTO: Figure Skating - ISU Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup 2018 - Men's Free Skating
FILE PHOTO: Figure Skating - ISU Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup 2018 - Men's Free Skating - Moscow, Russia - November 18, 2018 Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan reacts after collecting his gold medal REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

March 15, 2019

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – A figure skating showdown between Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu and reigning world champion Nathan Chen is set to dominate next week’s world championships in Saitama as the two face off for the first time in over a year.

Hanyu, who has aggravated a right ankle injury, was forced to drop out of last year’s Japan nationals and the Grand Prix Final, where Chen claimed the crown for a second year running, meaning they have not competed against each other since the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

There, Chen bombed out of the short program in 17th place but skated an incredible free with five clean quad jumps that catapulted him to fifth.

Japan’s Hanyu, skating on painkillers after injuring his ankle in a practice fall, became the first man in over 50 years to win back-to-back Olympic figure skating gold medals.

Though juggling practice and classes as a Yale University freshman, the 19-year-old Chen became U.S. champion for the third straight year in January with a powerful free skate.

“Worlds is a whole other ballgame,” Chen said at the time.

“I’m really excited for it. I’m going to start training as best as I can for it.”

Hanyu has not competed since last November when he won the Rostelecom Cup with the biggest point spread ever, but coach Brian Orser said the 24-year-old was determined to perform at his peak on home ice.

“He is a good, strong competitor and the worlds are in Japan, so he wants to be on top form,” Orser told reporters at the European championships in January.

Hanyu has another incentive – the arena in Saitama, just north of Tokyo, is where he won the first of his two world titles in 2014.

The pair face a challenge from Japan’s Shoma Uno, who grabbed Grand Prix silver for the second year in a row and took gold at the Four Continents meet in February with a record-breaking free skate score under new rules in effect this season.

“I told myself that I could do it and skated without thinking about anything,” said the soft-spoken 21-year-old, who won silver at Pyeongchang and has spent his career in the shadow of the charismatic Hanyu.

LADIES TITLE UP FOR GRABS

With 2018 champion Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada sitting out the season, the race for the ladies title is wide open.

Olympic champion Alina Zagitova will be seeking to atone for the 2018 worlds when the 16-year-old fell three times in her free skate and finished fifth overall, the Russian’s only loss of the 2017-2018 season.

But a growth spurt last year and an uneven season, which saw her finish second in the Grand Prix Final despite topping the podium in both her Grand Prix events and holding four world records under the new point system, means victory is far from certain.

Zagitova’s major challenge is likely to come from Japanese 16-year-old Rika Kihira, whose increasingly consistent jumps, including the triple axel, saw her win a surprise gold at the Grand Prix Final and then another at the Four Continents.

Kihira’s season has also seen some wobbles, however, as foot problems saw her take just silver at the Japan nationals.

Also likely to be in the mix is two-times world champion Evgenia Medvedeva, who sat out the meet last year due to a foot stress fracture that hampered much of her 2017-2018 season.

The 19-year-old, who was denied gold in Pyeongchang by compatriot Zagitova, took the highly unusual step for a Russian skater last year in leaving home to train with Orser in Canada.

She has struggled this season and even replaced her short program halfway through. But in February she topped the podium at the Russian nationals, winning a berth for the worlds.

In ice dancing, French team Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, who narrowly lost out on Olympic gold in Pyeongchang after a clasp on Papadakis’s costume came undone, have had an uneven season due to Cizeron suffering a back injury.

However, they came back strong to claim gold in the European Championships and set a world record.

They face competition from U.S. team Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, who won the Grand Prix Final.

The World Figure Skating Championships run from March 18 to 24.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

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‘Confidence in Mexico’: U.S. and Mexican top brass to talk business, border

FILE PHOTO: The US flag and the Mexico's flag are pictured on the international border bridge Paso del Norte in between El Paso US and Ciudad Juarez in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
FILE PHOTO: The US flag (L), and the Mexico's flag are pictured on the international border bridge Paso del Norte in between El Paso US and Ciudad Juarez in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo

April 11, 2019

By Anthony Esposito

MERIDA, Mexico (Reuters) – A meeting of U.S. and Mexican government and business leaders on Thursday aims to shore up investor confidence in Mexico and defuse U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to close their shared border if illegal immigration is not halted.

Part of regular business forum the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue, the talks in Mexico coincide with renewed tensions over trade and the border after two years of uncertainty sparked by Trump’s push to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

They also give Mexico an opportunity to address investor concerns about how President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has run Latin America’s No. 2 economy since taking office in December.

“We want the American investors that visit our country to go back home feeling confident about their investments here,” said Moises Kalach, a top executive in the CCE business lobby, which represented Mexico’s private sector at the NAFTA talks.

Lopez Obrador and officials including his foreign minister and energy minister, plus U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, are scheduled to attend the two-day meeting in the city of Merida.

Among investors due to attend is Larry Fink, chief executive of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock Inc.

The leftist Lopez Obrador took power vowing to fight entrenched corruption, crime, inequality and poverty, scourges that cost Mexico billions of dollars every year.

He has said he wants to boost both private and public investment, but some of his early decisions, such as canceling a partially-built $13 billion Mexico City airport and steps to rein in the autonomy of regulatory bodies, have spooked investors.

Questions remain over the future of trade in the region because the deal agreed to replace NAFTA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), has yet to be ratified.

U.S. Democratic politicians say Mexico must approve a new labor law to strengthen its trade unions before they approve the USMCA, and Kalach said the implications of that legislation now in the Mexican Congress would be addressed.

Time would also be given to how Mexico proposes to cope with a migrant surge which has led to Trump threatening to close the border, causing trade hold-ups at the frontier, he added.

“So as to lower the pressure on this issue, which is a real issue and an important issue,” Kalach said.

Trump said on Wednesday he would have to mobilize more of the military at the U.S. border with Mexico.

Cutting through the noise surrounding the issue of immigration, Mexico wants to ensure that the message goes out that both countries’ private sectors keep working “hand in hand”, said a Mexican official, who asked not to be named.

Mexico is also eager to drum up interests in “strategic projects” in Mexico’s southeast, and to ensure there is a good business climate in the country, the official said.

Key among the projects is the planned $8 billion construction of a new Pemex refinery on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, which American firms were recently invited to bid on.

Other schemes the government wants to pitch to investors include a rail project across popular tourist areas of the Yucatan peninsula, known as the Mayan Train, development of border areas, and an alternative new Mexico City airport.

(Additional reporting by Dave Graham, Frank Jack Daniel and Sharay Angulo in Mexico City; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Source: OANN

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Report: McGregor being investigated for sexual assault

FILE PHOTO: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Conor McGregor
FILE PHOTO: Boxing - Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Conor McGregor - Las Vegas, USA - August 26, 2017 Conor McGregor makes his entrance before the fight REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo

March 26, 2019

Former UFC champion Conor McGregor is under investigation in his native Ireland on an accusation of sexual assault, four sources told the New York Times on Tuesday.

A woman claimed she was sexually assaulted in December by McGregor, who was arrested in January before being released, pending further investigation. He was not charged at that time, per the usual protocol in criminal investigations in Ireland, the Times reported.

McGregor, shortly after midnight ET on Tuesday, tweeted his retirement from mixed martial arts.

The woman alleges the assault occurred at the Beacon Hotel, located on the edge of Dublin. A source told the Times that McGregor is an occasional guest there, with the most recent visit occurring in December.

Ireland’s police service, Gardia, did not confirm McGregor as the suspect to the Times.

Earlier this month, McGregor was charged with felony strong-armed robbery and misdemeanor criminal mischief in South Florida after Miami Beach police said he smashed a fan’s phone.

Early Tuesday morning, McGregor posted on his Twitter account, “Hey guys quick announcement, I’ve decided to retire from the sport formally known as ‘Mixed Martial Art’ today. I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition. I now join my former partners on this venture, already in retirement. Proper Pina Coladas on me fellas!”

On a Monday night appearance on “The Tonight Show,” McGregor told host Jimmy Fallon that he was in talks for a bout in July.

The 30-year-old lost his most recent bout to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October. He is currently serving a six-month suspension for his involvement in a post-fight fracas after that bout, but he would be available to fight again beginning April 6.

McGregor (21-4-0, 18 knockouts) has held the UFC’s featherweight and lightweight championships.

He also tweeted his retirement in April 2016 but was back in the Octagon four months later.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Ford’s China JV Changan eyes sales rebound at end-2019: president

FILE PHOTO: People walk by a Ford Escape SUV displayed during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai
FILE PHOTO: People walk by a Ford Escape SUV displayed during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

April 16, 2019

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s China Changan Automobile Group expects sales at its joint venture with Ford Motor Co to rebound at the end of this year as the U.S. automaker boosts its China product line, Changan’s president said on Tuesday.

Zhu Huarong made the comment to Reuters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Autoshow.

Ford earlier this month announced that it plans to launch more than 30 new models in China over the next three years as it seeks to reverse slumping sales in the world’s biggest auto market.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh)

Source: OANN

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Golf: Day optimistic major back pain will not return this week

PGA: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - Final Round
February 10, 2019; Pebble Beach, CA, USA; Jason Day hits his chip shot on the eighth hole during the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

March 13, 2019

(Reuters) – Former world number one Jason Day is cautiously optimistic his back problems will not flair up and hamper his challenge at this week’s Players Championship in Florida.

The Australian, the 2016 Players champion, made it through only six holes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last Thursday before back issues forced him to withdraw in pain.

“My long term confidence in terms of my back, I am not even thinking about it right now,” Day told reporters at TPC Sawgrass on Tuesday.

“I feel really cautiously optimistic about how things are progressing and the way that I feel.”

Day said last week that an MRI scan had revealed he had a tear in a disc in his lower back, which was causing him crippling pain when the problem flaired up.

“When pain starts shooting down my legs, that’s obviously a no-go,” he said.

“My back seizes up, and I can’t really walk … it feels like your world is ending. It feels like is this going to be the last time that I am going to pick up a golf club.

“It’s not great mentally to come back from an injury so your confidence is hit a little bit, but overall I feel good about.”

Day, who able to play 18 holes on Monday, said he had also spoken to Tiger Woods about having injections for back problems.

“My big concern was if I got them, how long would it last?” Day said.

“I have to be more disciplined with my physio and training … We are all playing with some kind of aches and pains.”

After withdrawing from the tournament at Bay Hill last week, Day decided to spend time with his family at Disney World.

That did not sit well with some on social media who wondered how he was unable to play, but was able to walk around a theme park.

“It was great,” Day said. “When I have an injury, I get sad and depressed.

“I mean that’s the biggest thing. I’m not going to be sitting in my bus depressed, and especially when the doctors tell me to go and walk.”

Day said he was not going to let criticism on social media bother him either.

“I don’t care, like, if people make memes about me. I think a lot of them are funny,” Day said.

“I mean, it’s fine. It is what it is. People trying to be funny and that, I get a good laugh out of it and I’m okay with that.

“You can tell between people that are being funny and people that are actually trying to … that really hate you.”

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina, editing Nick Mulvenney)

Source: OANN

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Judge Who Oversaw Epstein Sex Trafficking Case Dies

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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.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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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