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Germany Rocked by Six Stabbings, Gang Rape Over Weekend

Germany was the scene of at least six stabbings and a gang rape in the span of a single weekend, according to local media and police.

Stabbings in the cities of Frankfurt, Cologne, Lingen, Nuremberg, and Mühlheim sent at least five victims to the hospital, with one more discovered dead at the scene, and a gang rape is being investigated in Viersen.

In Frankfurt, the body of a woman was discovered in front of her apartment after neighbors reported screaming to police.

Officers later arrested a male suspect who is reportedly her former partner.

"The autopsy on Monday revealed that the 32-year-old was killed by a cut on the neck, the prosecutor said," Hessenschau reports.

Also in Frankfurt, a 19-year-old suspect turned himself in to police, indicating he may have been responsible for stabbing a 22-year-old victim during a dispute, according to Bild.

In Nuremberg, a 25-year-old Iraqi migrant was arrested following a manhunt after a woman, 21, was stabbed while walking home with a friend.

In Mülheim, police are seeking a suspect with a possible "Arab migrant background" who may have participated in the stabbing of a 20-year-old male victim, along with four other perpetrators.

"According to the police, he described the incident as follows: An acquaintance wanted to meet him in the playground, and when he arrived there, a total of five men were waiting for him," Bild reports. "Suddenly they attacked him and later fled."

In Lingen, a woman was ambushed on an unlit path and dragged off her bicycle by two masked "young men" who stabbed her multiple times before she was able to scare them off by calling for help.

"The 44-year-old was seriously injured in the attack, an ambulance took her to the hospital," a police report explains.

In Cologne, a 28-year-old man was attacked in a hookah bar, where he suffered "heavy puncture wounds on his upper body," Bild reports.

The victim was stabilized after emergency surgery, and a suspect, 26, has been arrested.

In Viersen, police are seeking suspects in the gang rape of a young woman after she was reportedly pushed into a side street and sexually assaulted.

Police descriptions of the alleged perpetrators indicate they may be foreign, and the victim reportedly noted that they all "spoke incomprehensibly in foreign language," according to PI News.

The slew of attacks with relatively few accompanying details come shortly after a disturbing report indicating German police and media actively hide essential information about crimes that could reflect poorly on migrants, allegedly to "preserve civil peace."

An op-ed by George Soros makes the argument that democracy is "outdated" and the cause of anti-EU sentiment.

(PHOTO: Christoph Reichwein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Source: InfoWars

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Logano claims pole at Martinsville for fifth time

NASCAR: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
FILE PHOTO: Mar 3, 2019; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano (22) celebrates after winning the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

March 23, 2019

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — With surgical efficiency, Joey Logano continued his domination of knockout qualifying at Martinsville Speedway.

Saving his car and his tires for the final round of Saturday’s time trials at the .526-mile short track, Logano won the pole for Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap at 97.830 mph (19.356 seconds).

Driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Logano edged Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Aric Almirola (97.643 mph) for the top starting spot by .037 seconds. Brad Keselowski (97.458 mph) qualified third, followed by Kevin Harvick (97.382 mph), as Ford drivers captured the top four positions on the grid.

The Busch Pole Award was Logano’s first of the season, his fifth at Martinsville and the 21st of his career. Logano ran only three laps total in the first two rounds, allowing him to save his tires for a four-lap run in the final round. His last lap was his fastest.

“It’s awesome to get another pole and hopefully we can top it off with another win,” said Logano, who used a victory in last year’s Playoff race at Martinsville as a springboard to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. “This is a fun race. I always look forward to coming up here.”

Logano has earned his five of the last seven contested poles at Martinsville over a nine-race span, with two of the qualifying sessions canceled because of adverse weather.

All told, Fords claimed six of the top 12 starting positions, including Team Penske drivers Logano and Keselowski and all four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers — Almirola, Harvick, Daniel Suarez (10th) and Clint Bowyer (11th). In contrast to Logano’s economical runs, Bowyer had 16 laps on his tires at the end of the final round.

Five-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin paced the first two rounds but had to settle for fifth when the starting order for the top 12 drivers was decided. Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) were the only Toyota drivers to make the final round.

William Byron was sixth fastest in the money round to lead four Chevrolets in the final 12. He was joined by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson (seventh) and fellow Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott (eighth) and Jimmie Johnson (12th), who leads active drivers with nine victories at the paper-clip-shaped track.

Trying for his third straight Cup win on Sunday — not to mention a weekend sweep of the Martinsville races — Saturday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victor Kyle Busch will start 14th in the STP 500.

“Too loose. Just didn’t have it with track conditions today,” said Busch, who opted not to make a mock qualifying run during practice.

For Byron, the sixth-place run was a welcome end to a frustrating day. Early in Saturday’s opening practice, his No. 24 Chevrolet bounced off the outside wall. His crew spent the rest of the session — and then some — repairing the car.

“I’m kind of optimistic, but we’ve had a rough day,” Byron said after qualifying. “These two-day shows are tough, and we started out with a flat right front (tire) and hit the wall. Then in second practice, we were way behind because we didn’t have enough practice time.

“The guys made a lot of great changes to get it right going into qualifying. We were really struggling over the bumps over both ends, really, and getting on the concrete (in the corners). We’ll see what happens — should be fun.”

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying — 70th Annual STP 500

Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville, Virginia

1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 97.830 mph.

2. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 97.643 mph.

3. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 97.458 mph.

4. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 97.382 mph.

5. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 97.362 mph.

6. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 97.202 mph.

7. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 97.098 mph.

8. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 97.053 mph.

9. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 97.018 mph.

10. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 96.830 mph.

11. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 96.706 mph.

12. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 96.573 mph.

13. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 96.755 mph.

14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 96.716 mph.

15. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 96.696 mph.

16. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 96.671 mph.

17. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 96.647 mph.

18. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 96.602 mph.

19. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 96.602 mph.

20. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 96.499 mph.

21. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, 96.484 mph.

22. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 96.465 mph.

23. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 96.357 mph.

24. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 96.146 mph.

25. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 96.298 mph.

26. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 96.107 mph.

27. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 95.917 mph.

28. (00) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 95.709 mph.

29. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 95.603 mph.

30. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 95.569 mph.

31. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 95.415 mph.

32. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 95.415 mph.

33. (52) Jeb Burton(i), Chevrolet, 94.689 mph.

34. (77) DJ Kennington(i), Chevrolet, 94.618 mph.

35. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 0.000 mph.

36. (51) Cody Ware #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

–Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Malinvestment: Have We Learned Anything Since the Last Recession?

A growing number of economists are predicting the current economic boom will turn to bust in 2019.

When recession does come, will economists simply call for more of the same — namely endless government spending?

After all, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, most economists told us the problem was the private sector was not spending and investing enough. So, we were told, government must step in and make up the difference with deficit spending to get “idle resources” — like capital goods and labor — back to work.

But what should the government be spending on? Apparently, anything.

This is not an exaggeration. For example, noted Cal-Berkeley economist Brad DeLong insisted in 2009 “At this point, anything that boosts the government’s deficit over the next two years passes the benefit-cost test — anything at all.”

Such thinking reveals one of fatal flaws of mainstream economics: the idea that all the economy is one big homogeneous blob. As Friedrich Hayek put it, “Mr. Keynes’ aggregates conceal the most fundamental mechanisms of change.”

The Problem of Malinvestment

During the 2002-2007 housing boom, significant amounts of capital and labor were organized in very specific locations, combinations and uses at multiple stages of production to produce more houses to satisfy consumer demands. This meant more construction workers employed building homes in growing communities, and more mortgage brokers and investment bankers to finance the boom. It also meant more inputs such as wood, nails, concrete and glass directed toward homebuilding; which in turn required more lumber processing, steel production, and so on.

When the housing bubble burst, millions of these workers became unemployed, and significant portions of the structures of production that were expanded to support the bubble became idle as well. The bursting of the bubble then sent a ripple effect permeating through other sectors of the economy, creating yet more unemployed resources.

For the economy to recover, a major reallocation of these idle workers and resources needed to occur. Idle workers and capital goods needed to be reshuffled to those entrepreneurs ready and willing to employ them in an attempt to meet changing consumer demands.

But this process is not short nor easy. The unemployed workers have specific skills and experience, and many may need training to acquire new skills to meet the changing labor market. Some may be unwilling to move to take new opportunities. How is a laid off bricklayer supposed to find work in a market demanding graphic designers and coders?

The capital goods no longer being utilized likewise have specific uses, and often need specific complementary goods to fulfill their role in the production process. Some of them may end up being liquidated because no entrepreneurs have a need for them. There simply may be too many bulldozers and cement mixers needed given the now smaller, post-bubble construction industry.

Recession: A Process of Re-allocating Malinvested Resources

This process of reshuffling explains the strength and duration of the recession.

Keynesian-inspired economists and politicians, unfortunately, view the idle capital and labor only in the aggregate. Their grand “stimulus” plans involve nothing more nuanced than coaxing consumer spending and business investment into spending more money on anything, anytime, anywhere.

As economic historian Robert Higgs described , “If someone, whatever his skills, preferences, or location, is unemployed, then, in this framework of thought, we may expect to put him back to work by increasing aggregate demand, regardless of what we happen to spend the money for, whether it be cosmetics or computers.”

Simply force-feeding new money into the economy will be ineffective because it takes no account of the true reason why the resources are idle in the first place.

The billions of dollars worth of public works projects, for instance, will mostly draw from labor and capital actively engaged in the private sector and fail to employ idle resources. Say, for instance, Chicago receives millions to build a new road. Can anyone honestly say for certain that the road construction will only employ workers and other inputs sitting idle in the Chicago area due to the housing bust?

Unemployed bankers and carpenters won’t be of much help laying pavement. Rather, the road project will undoubtedly divert labor and machinery actively engaged in private sector projects in the region. In the end, fewer resources will be available for productive, private sector use because they are tied up in government stimulus projects.

Meanwhile, the majority of idle workers and equipment will continue to sit idle.

Moreover, billions of available funds in the capital investment markets will be tied up by government projects; further drying up private investment opportunities.

Government stimulus spending may also artificially inflate the prices of resources, pricing them out of reach for entrepreneurs needing low-priced inputs to attract their investment during uncertain recessionary conditions. The very resources needed to generate recovery will be unavailable, having been diverted to government projects.

The best policy is for government to get out of the way and allow the reallocation of resources to occur unhampered. Government spending can only distort and prolong this process, most likely producing harmful inflationary pressure on prices along the way.

Will next time be any different?



Top political cartoonist in the world, Ben Garrison, has been attacked by the left for being so effective in his support for liberty, capitalism and President Trump.

Source: InfoWars

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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Is Working

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Is Working

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin writes that the American economy is stronger today than it was before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. President Trump's economic program is leading to more jobs and higher wages for hardworking Americans, Mnuchin writes.

Read Full Article »

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Panel Discussion: Why Blacks Are Democrats & Whites Are Labeled Racist

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Source: InfoWars

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Kazakhstan to have early presidential vote in 2 months

Kazakhstan's interim president has ordered an early presidential election in two months' time.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who became the acting head of state after last month's unexpected resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, said in Tuesday's televised address to the nation that the vote will be held on June 9.

Nazarbayev took the helm in Kazakhstan when it was still part of the Soviet Union and led it for three decades.

The 78-year-old has retained the honorary title of "Elbasy" or "Leader of the Nation" and is expected to continue to wield considerable political power as chairman of the nation's Security Council and the head of the ruling Nur Otan party.

Nazarbayev's eldest daughter has been named speaker of the upper chamber of parliament.

Source: Fox News World

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Sens. Rick Scott and Chuck Schumer in Twitter feud over relief aid to Puerto Rico

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., feuded  on Twitter over a disaster aid package that would aid Puerto Rico.

Scott tweeted out a clip of his appearance on CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday, when he spoke about the relief bill.

“To me this is all politics. This is Chuck Schumer saying that he cares more about Puerto Rico than President Trump does. I think we should have passed the bill that Sen. Shelby had done,” Scott told “State of the Union" host Jake Tapper.

Scott met with Trump at the White House Thursday along with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., to discuss a possible deal with the commander-in-chief on relief to Puerto Rico. Trump is feuding with the island's Democratic officials and reportedly railed against aid to Puerto Rico at a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans last month.

The island was slammed by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.

Scott called out Schumer in the tweet, saying he need to “stop these political games.”

TRUMP, GOP FIRE BACK AFTER DEMS BLOCK DISASTER RELIEF BILL: 'WASHINGTON HAS REACHED A NEW LOW'

Schumer responded to Scott by asking how the freshman senator could support the bill “that strips needed help from the island and is opposed by PR’s [Puerto Rico] governor?”

“Why not stand up for both PR & Florida, and have the courage to tell Trump to leave no community behind?” the minority leader wrote.

In a tit-for-tat, Scott retaliated, saying, “This is a great example of why people hate politics. Not only did Sen. Schumer block a bipartisan bill, now he’s lying about it. Our bill doesn’t strip funding for P.R. It includes $600 mil in nutrition assistance funding for P.R. that I fought to get in the bill.”

The feud didn’t end there. Schumer again responded to Scott, saying Trump took “all aid for Puerto Rico but nutrition assistance out of the bill.”

“The bill has none of the long-term recovery & resilience aid PR has asked for repeatedly. Stop the bull. Stand up to the President. Help all communities rebuilding from disaster,” Schumer fired back.

Scott responded by accusing Schumer of refusing to give Puerto Rico help in order to “prolong a political fight with Trump.”

“I’m working with the Rs, Ds and the President to get a deal done. But it shouldn’t have taken this long. FL’s been waiting 6 months. The truth is, you’re more than happy to give Puerto Rico nothing if it helps prolong a political fight with Trump. That’s shameful,” Scott responded.

He shared a Politico article on the feud calling it “personal.”

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“It’s personal when Sen. Schumer blocks billions for FL’s Panhandle after the devastation of Hurricane Michael. It’s personal when he blocks Nutrition Assistance funding for Puerto Rico after they cut benefits. No more games. Time to get this done,” he wrote.

After Scott narrowly won his Senate bid over incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., he said in a speech on the Senate floor that he would be “a voice for the people of Puerto Rico.”

Earlier this month, a bill that would have given relief to those states affected by natural disasters failed 44-49 in the Senate. The $13 billion package would have “provided $600 million for Puerto Rico’s food stamp program,” NBC News reported. An alternative that was proposed by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Schumer was similar in the aid provided to Puerto Rico “while freeing up grant funding from the Department of House and Urban Development that has already been allocated to the island,” Politico reported. Democrats were blocked by Republicans from bringing it to the floor.

In a recent op-ed that was published in the New York Daily News, Schumer wrote that relief for the island “shouldn’t be locked away in the U.S. Treasury because of bureaucratic red tape.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

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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German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer holds annual general meeting
Werner Baumann, CEO of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG, attends the annual general shareholders meeting in Bonn, Germany, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

BONN (Reuters) – Bayer shareholders vented their anger over its stock price slump on Friday as litigation risks mount from the German drugmaker’s $63 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.

Several large investors said they will not support aspirin investor Bayer’s management in a key vote scheduled for the end of its annual general meeting.

Bayer’s management, led by chief executive Werner Baumann, could see an embarrassing plunge in approval ratings, down from 97 percent at last year’s AGM, which was held shortly before the Monsanto takeover closed in June.

A vote to ratify the board’s actions features prominently at every German AGM. Although it has no bearing on management’s liability, it is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment.

“Due to the continued negative development at Bayer, high legal risks and a massive share price slump, we refuse to ratify the management board and supervisory board’s actions during the business year,” Janne Werning, representing Germany’s Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder, said in prepared remarks.

About 30 billion euros ($34 billion) have been wiped off Bayer’s market value since August, when a U.S. jury found the pesticide and drugs group liable because Monsanto had not warned of alleged cancer risks linked to its weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer suffered a similar defeat last month and more than 13,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages.

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

Deutsche Bank’s asset managing arm DWS said shareholders should have been consulted before the takeover, which was agreed in 2016 and closed in June last year.

“You are pointing out that the lawsuits have not been lost yet. We and our customers, however, have already lost something – money and trust,” Nicolas Huber, head of corporate governance at DWS, said in prepared remarks for the AGM.

He said DWS would abstain from the shareholder vote of confidence in the executive and non-executive boards.

Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters this week that Bayer’s largest shareholder, BlackRock, plans to either abstain from or vote against ratifying the management board’s actions.

Asset management firm Deka, among Bayer’s largest German investors, has also said it would cast a no vote.

Baumann said Bayer’s true value was not reflected in the current share price.

“There’s no way to make this look good. The lawsuits and the first verdicts weigh heavily on our company and it’s a concern for many people,” he said, adding it was the right decision to buy Monsanto and that Bayer was vigorously defending itself.

This month, shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recommended investors not to give the executive board their seal of approval.

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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