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With 737 MAX grounded, airlines face daily scheduling challenges

FILE PHOTO: Southwest Airlines Co. Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft at Midway International Airport in Chicago
FILE PHOTO: Southwest Airlines Co. Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sit next to the maintenance area after landing at Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Kamil Kraczynski

March 20, 2019

By Tracy Rucinski and Allison Lampert

CHICAGO/MONTREAL (Reuters) – U.S. and Canadian airlines that fly the roughly 175-seat aircraft face a logistical challenge: which flights to cancel and which to cover with other planes following the global grounding of Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jets.

Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc, the two largest MAX operators in the United States, said they have bolstered their reservation and operations teams to figure out how to spread flight cancellations across their networks, not just on MAX flights.

American Airlines, for example, had most of its 24 MAX jets flying in and out of Miami, where load factors have been full during the Spring Break season.

“We can’t just cancel all of those flights, so the goal is to spread out the cancellations across our entire system to impact the least amount of customers,” American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said.

This means that an American Airlines flight from Miami to the Caribbean initially scheduled on a 737 MAX may now fly on a 737-800 with a similar seat configuration, while that 737-800 flight is canceled.

“It’s a challenge to explain to customers who weren’t previously booked on a MAX why their flight is canceled,” Feinstein said.

The 737 MAX jets were grounded last week following two fatal crashes in the past five months, the causes of which are under investigation.

Southwest, the largest MAX operator in the world with 34 jets representing about 5 percent of its total fleet, is cancelling about 150 flights per day due to the grounding, but not all on MAX routes.

Southwest shares were down 2.3 percent on Wednesday and American shares fell 2.1 percent.

Steve West, Senior Director of Southwest’s Operations Control, said the company is trying to cancel flights five days in advance, while looking at issues such as weather that could free up jets, like last week’s snowstorm in Colorado.

Southwest and American were already grappling with a larger than normal number of out-of-service aircraft, further straining their fleets.

So far United Airlines, with 14 MAX aircraft, has not canceled any flights due to the grounding, but has had to put smaller aircraft on some routes and fly the larger 777 to places like Hawaii.

It is unclear how long the grounding will last. Deliveries are also on hold, meaning an additional hit to airlines due to receive more of the jets this year.

Boeing has over 5,000 orders for the MAX, which sold fast thanks to its higher fuel-efficiency and longer range. Now airlines face a dent to 2019 profits.

Calgary-based WestJet said it took steps prior to the MAX grounding to start protecting trans-border flights to sunny destinations that were previously scheduled to fly with the carrier’s 13 MAX planes.

Meanwhile, Air Canada said on Tuesday it would remove its 24 737 MAX aircraft from its schedule until at least July 1, 2019.

“It is easier to put the aircraft back in the schedule than to pull it out,” said a source familiar with the carrier’s thinking, who is not allowed to publicly discuss its strategy.

(GRAPHIC-Boeing 737 MAX deliveries in question link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hv2btC).

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: OANN

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Landslide on Oahu covers highway, seriously injuring a woman

Hawaii transportation officials were assessing an unstable slope above a busy highway on Oahu Tuesday after a landslide on the roadway sent three people to the hospital.

The Pali Highway, which connects Honolulu and the east side of the island over a steep mountain range, was completely closed Tuesday. Portions of it will remain shut down all week after multiple landslides covered the roadway in two spots on Monday, Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said.

A small landslide closed one lane of the highway Monday morning, but Sakahara said rocks and debris were cleared and the lane was quickly reopened. Several hours later, another larger landslide hit in the same spot, covering the roadway and closing all lanes heading away from Honolulu. There were no injuries or vehicles hit.

The Honolulu-bound lanes remained open. But about an hour later, another landslide struck nearby, sending huge rocks and debris crashing onto the open lanes where a pickup truck was passing into a tunnel.

A 40-year-old Kaneohe woman who was riding in the bed of the truck was injured, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright said. The woman sustained non-life threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Two girls, ages 2 and 9, were also in the truck and taken to the hospital but were not injured, Enright said.

The Honolulu-bound lanes of the highway, where the vehicle was hit, will remain closed until at least Monday, Sakahara said. He said there are several large boulders, some as big as a vehicle, that are still at risk of falling. Crews will need to secure the hillside before clearing debris on the road and reopening the highway.

Pieces of concrete from Old Pali Road, the original route from Honolulu to the windward side of Oahu, also came down with the slide. Officials said in a statement that the road had significant cracks and damage that need to be secured.

In August, a landslide covered the same area of the Honolulu-bound lanes of the highway during the morning rush-hour commute. Falling rocks damaged four vehicles during that landslide, but no one was injured.

The highway was closed in both directions as officials inspected the hillside. But the road was cleared and reopened before the afternoon commute.

Source: Fox News National

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Columnist Michael Goodwin: Trump should view Mueller report as a renewed lease on Oval Office

As both the president and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle come to terms with the Mueller investigation, New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin argued Monday that Trump should view it as a gift and opportunity to renew his lease on the Oval Office.

During an appearance on "America's Newsroom," Goodwin highlighted that although the president is clearly "furious with the tone and content" of the Mueller report, it was time to accept that it's over and focus on policy as the country moves closer to the 2020 presidential election.

"The president should view this as a gift, and view it as, 'my lease in the Oval Office has been renewed,' and I think he needs to make the most of it," the Fox News contributor said.

Goodwin also noted what he called the "circular quality" of the Mueller report, referring to its reliance on information from publications such as the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," which provided the basis of allegations that contributed to the investigation.

EX-TRUMP ATTORNEY DOWD DISPUTES MUELLER REPORT, SAYS PRESIDENT NEVER TRIED TO OUST SPECIAL COUNSEL

MARY ANNE MARSH: MUELLER REPORT IS NO VICTORY FOR TRUMP, DESPITE WHAT PRESIDENT SAYS

He also argued that the actions by many of the investigators throughout the duration of the probe, including Mueller himself, should also be subject to an investigation.

"No president has ever been through this," Goodwin said, adding that he "can't blame" the president for continuing to tweet about the investigation and its repercussions.

A number of House Democrats have revived the discussion about impeachment in the days following the release of a redacted version of the report, and Goodwin said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly organized a private phone call with other Democrats on Monday afternoon to discuss the possibility of impeaching President Trump.

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Ultimately, Goodwin said, he believes that Pelosi is also looking past impeachment and wants to focus on the bigger picture of the 2020 election, for which 19 Democrats have now declared presidential runs.

The question Democrats must ask themselves, Goodwin argued, is simple: "The Mueller report confirms some unsavory behavior, but what do we have to show that we can do better, that we can govern?"

Source: Fox News Politics

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Renault strips Ghosn loyalist of executive role

FILE PHOTO: Groupe Renault executive vice president Mouna Sepehri attends a news conference to unveil Renault next mid-term strategic plan in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Mouna Sepehri attends a news conference to unveil Renault's next mid-term strategic plan in Paris, France, October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

March 13, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – Renault has sidelined a senior executive close to Carlos Ghosn, as the French carmaker and its Japanese affiliate Nissan continue to overhaul management in the wake of the financial scandal engulfing their former chairman.

General Secretary Mouna Sepehri will move to an advisory position and leave the executive committee, Renault said on Wednesday, as it announced broader top management changes.

Ghosn is facing trial in Japan for failing to disclose some $82 million in income he had arranged to be paid later, as well as transferring personal investment losses to Nissan when he was chief executive. He denies any wrongdoing.

Ghosn’s November arrest and dismissal as Nissan chairman, following an internal investigation, inflamed tensions with 43.4 percent-owner Renault that have begun to ease since his forced resignation from the French carmaker in January.

Product and program director Bruno Ancelin will leave Renault, the carmaker said in a statement announcing the appointment of his successor, Ali Kassai. Europe chief Jean-Christophe Kugler is also departing.

Sepehri’s move, first reported by Bloomberg, ends her oversight of corporate governance, communications, legal and public affairs at Renault, as well as her influential role as secretary to the board.

Sepehri was among a group of Ghosn loyalists who explored legal ways to pay him undisclosed income via the Dutch Renault-Nissan BV venture, and had herself received extra pay from the subsidiary, Reuters earlier revealed.

New Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard will head an alliance board to include the CEOs of Renault, Nissan and third alliance member Mitsubishi, the companies said this week, pledging a “new start” for their partnership.

Nissan also said Arun Bajaj, who served as alliance human resources chief, will exit the company. Mitsubishi announced that Chief Operating Officer Trevor Mann and Vincent Cobee, another manager picked by Ghosn, are to leave, with former alliance commercial vans chief Ashwani Gupta replacing Mann.

(Reporting by Laurence Frost. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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NZ foreign minister headed to Turkey to ‘confront’ Erdogan’s mosque shooting comments

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits Christchurch
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attends a news conference after meeting with first responders who were at the scene of the Christchurch mosque shooting, in Christchurch, New Zealand March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su

March 20, 2019

(Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to “confront” comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers.

Erdogan – who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections – said on Tuesday Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not.

The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook.

Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification.

“Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey,” Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. “He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face.”

Erdogan has referred to the mosque shootings several times during public gatherings in recent days.

Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said comments made by Erdogan on Monday during the commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding he was responding to the attacker’s “manifesto”, which was posted online by the attacker and later taken down.

“Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their Anzac visitors,” Altun said on Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

“As he was giving the speech at the Canakkale (Gallipoli) commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present.”

During his speech on Monday, Erdogan described the mass shooting as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back “in caskets” anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul.

Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders abroad.

Despite Peters’ intervention, an extract from Tarrant’s alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan’s rally again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he summoned Turkey’s ambassador for a meeting, during which he demanded Erdogan’s comments be removed from Turkey’s state broadcaster.

“I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Australia’s ambassador to Turkey would meet with members of Erdogan’s government on Wednesday, Morrison said.

Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey.

Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services.

Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the ANZAC struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives.

Visitors come to the area to honor their nations’ fallen on ANZAC Day every April 25.

(Reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Young Seychelles researcher offered surprise, historic dive

A young scientist from the Seychelles on Friday became the first known Seychellois to explore deep below scuba depth in the largely uncharted waters of her island nation.

The 23-year-old Stephanie Marie looked stunned when she was offered a seat in a submersible for a technical test dive near the tiny atoll of Alphonse.

"This is really an amazing opportunity that for the first time a Seychellois, and a woman also, gets to do this," she told The Associated Press. The offer came on International Women's Day.

The marine researcher with the Seychelles Fishing Authority is taking part in the British-led Nekton Mission to explore the Indian Ocean, one of the last major unexplored frontiers. There is almost no data on the biodiversity of the Seychelles beneath scuba depth, or 30 meters (about 100 feet).

The mission, which began this week in earnest, expects to discover new species and document evidence of climate change in the vast body of water that is already feeling the effects of global warming.

Principal scientist Lucy Woodall said the diversity of the Nekton team was important to her.

"It is absolutely wonderful that someone from the Seychelles is the first one to go into the water in the submersibles," she said. "That is incredibly important to me."

The series of dives took Marie down to 70 meters (230 feet) as the submersible tested its systems in an unexpectedly strong current. When she returned to the mother ship she was brimming with excitement. She hugged Nekton mission director Oliver Steeds, who had offered her the role of first co-pilot.

"I was so scared, I was so happy, it was mixed emotions," Marie said. "But then when I was sitting in the sub, way down, everything was calm. You forget about your fear, you forget about everything."

The data from the mission will be used to help the Seychelles with its plan to protect almost a third of its national waters by 2020. That's an area larger than Germany. The initiative is a key part of the country's "blue economy," which attempts to balance development needs with those of the environment.

The AP is the only news agency working with British scientists from the Nekton research team. AP video coverage will include exploring the depths of up to 300 meters (985 feet) off the coast of the Seychelles in two-person submarines, the search for submerged mountain ranges and previously undiscovered marine life, a behind-the-scenes look at life on board, interviews with researchers and aerial footage.

The seven-week expedition is expected to run until April 19.

Source: Fox News World

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House Democrats demand documents on Trump’s DHS purge

FILE PHOTO: White House adviser Miller departs with U.S. President Trump on travel to Michigan from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland
FILE PHOTO: White House adviser Stephen Miller walks across the tarmac to board Air Force One as he departs Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump for travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 25, 2019

By Mark Hosenball and Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The chairmen of three U.S. House committees sought documents on Thursday related to recent Trump administration firings of top Department of Homeland Security officials, escalating tensions between congressional Democrats and the White House over immigration policy.

U.S. Representatives Elijah Cummings, Bennie Thompson and Jerrold Nadler, Democrats who head the House of Representatives Oversight, Homeland Security and Judiciary committees, said in a statement they were “concerned that the president may have removed DHS officials because they refused his demands to violate federal immigration law and judicial orders.”

The chairmen said they were particularly interested in documents relating to recent moves by President Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, a former congressional aide who has become a top presidential adviser on immigration, to purge DHS of “senior leaders” who “reportedly refused orders to violate the law.”

The committee leaders’ move followed a White House declaration that it was refusing a request from the Oversight Committee for Miller to testify before the panel.

In a letter to the committee on Wednesday, the White House said Miller would not testify about administration immigration initiatives, including Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents and his threat to send immigrants in the country illegally to so-called sanctuary cities.

“In accordance with longstanding precedent, we respectfully decline the invitation to make Mr. Miller available for testimony before the committee,” the White House counsel said in the letter, which was provided to Reuters on Thursday.

The Republican president is pushing back against legal requests from Democratic-led House committees, which are conducting wide-ranging investigations of Trump and his administration, including his tax returns, White House security clearances and possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

DHS DEPARTURES

In their Thursday letter, the Democratic committee chairmen noted that DHS recently announced the departures of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the department’s undersecretary for management, the director of the U.S. Secret Service and the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

Cummings, whose committee has launched multiple investigations into Trump administration and White House policies, accused Trump on Wednesday of an “unprecedented, and growing pattern of obstruction” after he ordered federal employees not to comply with congressional investigations.

Cummings on April 17 invited Miller to testify voluntarily about why the administration decided to separate immigrant children from their parents at the border.

Cummings also called for an explanation of “transferring asylum seekers to sanctuary cities as a form of illegal retribution against your political adversaries, and firing top administration officials who refuse orders to violate the law.”

Trump has said he is considering sending immigrants in the country illegally to jurisdictions that have adopted some form of “sanctuary city” policies in which they refuse to use their resources to help federal agents enforce deportations.

Miller, a former Senate aide, helped shape some of Trump’s most contentious immigration policies, from a ban on Muslim immigrants proposed shortly after Trump took office in 2017 to the child separation policy, both of which were rejected by courts.

The oversight panel could move to subpoena Miller, but the White House could invoke executive privilege to protect his discussions with Trump.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Roberta Rampton and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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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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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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Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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