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New York officials face backlash over 'congestion tax' push

New York City is expensive. From parking to hotels to Broadway tickets, the city has a way of leaving the wallet lighter for any visitor. But it’s poised to get even pricier if a controversial new “congestion” fee comes to fruition.

With Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s backing, the proposed charge would be imposed at all Manhattan points of entry below 60th Street. While the price has not been set in stone, a report commissioned by Cuomo’s office recommends cars entering Manhattan during peak hours be charged $11.52, and trucks be charged $25.34 – on top of any bridge tolls.

OCASIO-CORTEZ DEFENDS ROLE IN AMAZON EXIT

The hope is that the fees eventually would help ease traffic, while sending needed funds toward public transportation, notably the city’s aging subway system.

But, on the heels of New York’s clash with Amazon that ended with the tech giant scrapping plans for a new headquarters there, the proposal is creating new economic concerns and political pushback.

Democratic state Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who represents parts of Queens and Brooklyn, told Fox News that “businesses are very concerned” about the higher costs of entering Manhattan.

“Being a business person in New York City is not easy,” he said. “… Congestion pricing is hitting them over the head.”

Cuomo, in his State of the State address last month, said the tax would raise about $15 billion by 2024. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio supports the legislation but is calling for hardship exemptions for those traveling to Manhattan for medical care – as well as upstate farmers who sell produce in Manhattan.

Phase one, meanwhile, already has been enacted as New Yorkers riding below 96th Street started seeing increased prices in their taxis, Ubers and other rides for hire since Feb. 1: $2.50 for yellow cabs; $2.75 for Uber, Lyft and Juno; and 75 cents for ridesharing cars. Cuomo reportedly says the Metropolitan Transportation Authority can gain $1 million a day from the new surcharges.

AMAZON PULLS OUT OF NYC HQ PLANS

But in a statement to Fox News, the Independent Drivers Guild representing over 70,000 app-based drivers blasted what it called a “sham” tax that “unjustly singles out low income for-hire drivers and their already highly-taxed riders.” The organization said the system “disproportionately hurts women, who more often opt for Uber or Lyft trips over public transit for safety reasons, especially at night.”

What comes next is not yet clear. Phase one only went into effect this month after a long legal battle. Phase two, which would extend to all drivers, would have to clear the state legislature – but could be a tough sell since the tax would affect any constituents who travel to the city.

New York City Councilman Barry Grodenchik, a Democrat representing part of Queens, worried about the impact to his constituents, many of whom rely on cars to get into Manhattan.

Leading opponent Richard Brodsky, a former Democratic assemblyman, told The New York Times last year, “This has always been a policy nostrum of the elites, sort of a big lab test in which the lab rats — the regular people — wanted no part of it.”

Supporters counter that the plan can work, and is sorely needed.

A spokesman for New York state Democratic Sen. Liz Kruger, who represents Manhattan’s east side and supports the tax, told Fox News the senator remains optimistic and “the devil is in the details.” Kruger thinks there is “a model that can be found that is equitable to all New Yorkers,” the spokesman said.

Democratic state Sen. Kevin Thomas, of Long Island, stressed the need to fund infrastructure repairs. “Much of my district commutes by train to the city, and improvements are desperately needed to the aging rail line,” he said, urging that most of the money go toward fixing the Long Island Railroad.

In Cuomo’s State of the State address, he said, “The status quo has got to go. Riders are fed up, the situation only gets worse. It's like the old commercial: you can pay me now or you can pay me later. The system is just continuing to deteriorate and if we don't invest now we're going to pay more later and suffer in the meantime. … Let's do it this year.”

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Congestion pricing is not new. London has had an £11.50 surcharge since 2003, during working business hours. Los Angeles, too, is looking at a rush-hour toll system, with support from Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Source: Fox News Politics

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UK’s M&S seals Ocado tie-up to take food online

FILE PHOTO: A Marks and Spencer logo is seen on a store in London
FILE PHOTO: A Marks and Spencer logo is seen on a store in London, Britain, May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

February 27, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has agreed a joint venture with online supermarket pioneer Ocado that would give M&S a full online food delivery service for the first time, the companies said on Wednesday.

Under the deal M&S, Britain’s best-known stores group, will buy a 50 percent share of Ocado’s UK retail business for up to 750 million pounds ($994 million).

M&S said it will finance the deal from a rights issue of shares to raise up to 600 million pounds. It will also cut its dividend by 40 percent to “a sustainable level”.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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Dollar weaker on dovish Fed bets, sterling seesaws

FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

March 19, 2019

By Daniel Leussink

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar was under pressure on Tuesday, weighed by growing expectations the Federal Reserve would shift to a more accommodative policy stance this week and concerns about slower U.S. economic growth.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was a shade lower at 96.495, hovering close to a two-week low. The index has lost 1.2 percent after hitting a three-month high of 97.710 on March 7.

The dollar has weakened in recent sessions on growing expectations the Fed will strike a dovish tone at its two-day policy meeting due to start later on Tuesday.

Many investors expect the Fed, which has raised rates four times last year, to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged and stick to its pledge of a “patient” approach to monetary policy.

Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities, said while the market is expecting more accommodative sentiments from the meeting, equity markets were unlikely to react positively to such a development.

“If the Fed really shows a gloomy outlook for growth and rates, then it’s also a negative for U.S. equities. Then that will be a negative for the dollar,” Yamamoto said.

“There is a high risk that whichever the outcome is, it will push down dollar/yen.”

As the dollar took a breather, other major currencies advanced by default. The yen rose 0.1 percent to 111.27 yen per dollar, extending its gains to a third session.

Sterling also gained, rising 0.1 percent to $1.3268. It had seesawed overnight after the speaker of Britain’s parliament said Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal could not be voted on again unless a different proposal was submitted.

The Bank of England is expected to leave its interest rate outlook unchanged at a policy meeting on Thursday due to the deep uncertainty over Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

The euro was down a tad at $1.1335.

Investors’ focus on Tuesday was also on Germany’s ZEW economic index for March, due for release around 1000 GMT.

The German economy, Europe’s largest, barely avoided recession in the final quarter of last year, as the negative impact from global trade disputes and Brexit weighed on a decade of expansion.

“The ZEW expectation index has been improving for four consecutive months,” said Mizuho’s Yamamoto.

“If another month’s improvement is shown, then I think that will be quite positive for the euro.”

(Editing by Sam Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Olive tree with soil from Ethiopia crash site unites mourners

Canadian relatives of the Ethiopian Flight ET 302 plane crash victims plant a memorial tree during a memorial ceremony at the Embassy of Canada in Addis Ababa
Canadian relatives of the Ethiopian Flight ET 302 plane crash victims plant a memorial tree during a memorial ceremony at the Embassy of Canada in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

March 26, 2019

By Jason Neely

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Families and friends grieving the victims of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 gathered for a tearful ceremony in Addis Ababa on Tuesday to unveil a plaque and plant an olive tree with soil from the crash site.

Citizens of 35 countries were lost on March 10 when the flight, just six minutes into the blue skies near the capital, plunged to the ground, killing all 157 aboard.

Kenya, Canada and Ethiopia suffered the biggest losses of life and their representatives and others joined about 100 relatives and friends at the memorial ceremony.

“Angela was a bright, compassionate, beautiful woman whose smile was infectious,” Roland Rehhorn from Canada said, describing his daughter, 24.

“In 2011 Angela fell in love with Kenya after being there for 14 days on a high school mission.

“This adventure helped shape Angela’s love of the wild, the planet, and the sea,” he said, before reading a poem dedicated to the conservationist, who was on the Nairobi-bound flight to attend a session of the U.N. Environment Assembly.

Ethiopia’s transport ministry said on Tuesday a preliminary report into the crash was likely be released this week.

“We cannot imagine what you have been through … we admire your courage and you need to know that we’re here and there for you not only right now but every step of the way,” Canada’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Antoine Chevrier, told the gathering.

“We are planting an olive tree today. Why? Because olive trees are beautiful, they are also resilient, and represent peace and solidarity,” he said, before a black marble plaque honoring the dead was unveiled.

Mourners then took turns spreading soil removed from the crash site around a young olive tree in the Canadian embassy compound.

“It’s closure, but it’s definitely a process,” said Miriam, an academic from Addis Ababa University there to honor her 26-year-old nephew Sidrak.

Mahlet Hailu, permanent secretary at Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, said the government wished to assure those mourning it would “efficiently and effectively conduct follow-up in the aftermath of this tragic accident”.

Families have been told it could take six months to properly identify remains of the 149 passengers and eight crew lost.

“While much has happened since March 10, there is of course much more that needs to be done,” Chevrier said.

(Reporting by Jason Neely; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Julius Baer has Credit Suisse wealth manager Khan on list for CEO job: sources

FILE PHOTO - Khan, CEO International Wealth Management of Swiss bank Credit Suisse, speaks during Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Zurich
FILE PHOTO - Iqbal Khan, CEO International Wealth Management of Swiss bank Credit Suisse, speaks during "The Wealth Management Industry - Into the next decade" at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit, Park Hyatt hotel, Zurich Switzerland, June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

March 29, 2019

By Oliver Hirt and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss bank Julius Baer is considering Credit Suisse’s international wealth management head Iqbal Khan as a possible successor to its chief executive Bernhard Hodler, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Khan, who was hired by Chairman Urs Rohner in 2013 and promoted to lead the newly created International Wealth Management business in 2015, had also been tipped as a potential future chief executive of Credit Suisse.

Although Hodler has been Julius Baer CEO for less than one-and-a-half years, Baer’s board is already assessing potential successors, the sources said.

Julius Baer has axed jobs and cut growth targets this year after it was hit by challenging markets in 2018, and its shares are down 28 percent since Hodler took over.

Switzerland’s third-largest listed bank declined to comment on whether it or its new chairman are seeking to replace Hodler, while Credit Suisse declined to comment on the situation.

Hodler was chief risk officer at Zurich-based Julius Baer before the departure of his predecessor Boris Collardi, who also rose through the ranks of Credit Suisse, to unlisted Pictet.

Since taking the top job, Hodler has been trying to overhaul Julius Baer’s compliance practices following several inquiries related to bribery and corruption probes involving its clients.

In Khan, Julius Baer would gain a high-profile private banker in his early forties who has helped bring in a new generation of young, entrepreneurial clients for Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse’s private banking operations outside of Switzerland and Asia Pacific have cut costs and layers of middle management, boosting profits and inflows under Khan, while the bank was undergoing a major restructuring.

If Khan were to leave, there are a handful of Credit Suisse executives who would be in the running to replace him.

These include Benjamin Cavalli, head of private banking in South Asia, Yves Sommerhalder, co-head of the bank’s International Trading Solutions, Serge Fehr, head of private banking and wealth management in the Swiss division, Eric Varvel, head of Asset Management in IWM, and Felix Baumgartner, head of premium clients in Switzerland, one source said.

Swiss Universal Bank head Thomas Gottstein and Investment Banking & Capital Markets boss Jim Amine would also be in the mix, the source added.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Oliver Hirt; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Senegal’s modernizing president leads field in upcoming election

A municipal worker prepares the election materials to be shipped to different cities in Dakar
A municipal worker prepares the election materials to be shipped to different cities in Dakar, Senegal February 6, 2019. Picture taken February 6, 2019 REUTERS/ Christophe Van Der Perre

February 19, 2019

By Sofia Christensen

DAKAR (Reuters) – President Macky Sall is the strong favorite to win Senegal’s election on Sunday, boosted by a modernizing first term that propelled economic growth although critics accuse him of jailing his rivals for political gain.

Sall, 57, is facing only four contenders in the first round of voting – the smallest presidential field since 1988 – after two of Senegal’s best-known opposition figures were ruled out because of corruption convictions.

Rights groups say this represents a crackdown on dissent in a country long seen as West Africa’s most stable democracy, which has seen peaceful transitions of power via the ballot box since independence from France in 1960.

But many voters and foreign backers applaud Sall for boosting economic growth to over six percent, one of the highest rates in Africa last year.

The growth was driven in part by a series of infrastructure projects including a new airport, 221 km (137 miles) of multi-lane motorways, a wrestling stadium and an express train that will connect the capital to a new city that has begun to rise from the semi-desert outside Dakar.

Billboards of Sall in a suit dot Dakar’s main coastal road and tout his achievements as the “Builder of Modern Senegal”.

“We are happy,” said fisherman Diabel Mbeguere, pulling his brightly-painted wooden boat onto Dakar’s Yoff beach after a day at sea. “There are highways here now, many things the president has done.”

“Electricity used to be a big problem,” he added.

Long power cuts that used to blight urban Senegal are rarer under Sall. Thousands of villages have gained access to electricity for the first time too, although more than half remain without power, according to the International Monetary Fund.

FRUSTRATED YOUTH

Opinion polls are banned in the run-up to elections, but a widely cited survey conducted by a Senegalese data company in November gave Sall 45 percent support. None of the other candidates had more than 16 percent.

His main challengers are former prime minister and third-time runner Idrissa Seck, 59, and 44-year old political rookie Ousmane Sonko, who is popular among Senegalese youth.

It is not yet clear how voting will be affected by the exclusion from the race of presidential hopefuls Khalifa Sall, a popular ex-mayor of Dakar who is no relation to Macky, and Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade.

Under Senegalese law, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade are barred from running as they were jailed for graft and corruption in 2018 and 2015 respectively. The opposition says this was a strategy to boost the president’s chances of winning, a charge the ruling party denies. Sall and Wade denied the charges.

Khalifa Sall has urged his supporters to vote for Seck, with whom he forged an alliance from behind bars earlier this month. Meanwhile Karim Wade’s father Abdoulaye says the vote is rigged and told supporters during a political meeting this month to take out the electoral roll and “douse it with petrol”.

His comments have been criticized by other opposition candidates and civil society groups and election day is not expected to be disrupted by widespread protests.

Even so, frustration with the incumbent is palpable among the educated youth, who struggle to find jobs in an economy based on exports of fish, phosphates and cement, and where more than half the population works in agriculture.

“Macky Sall promised to create 500,000 jobs for young people, but this never happened,” said 29-year old Romuald Preira, who recently completed a law degree at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop university.

“I can’t even find a small job or an internship, and I’m not the only one.”

In response to a social media campaign, a televised debate between candidates is scheduled to take place on Thursday. The event is a first for Senegal, but Sall has refused to take part.

More than 6.5 million people are registered to vote, with polls opening on Sunday at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) and closing at six (1800 GMT).

If no candidate secures a majority in the first round, the top two will face each other in a second round on March 24.

(Editing by Alessandra Prentice and Angus MacSwan)

Source: OANN

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Riding out a wildfire is risky but can be the only option

For Californians who might have to escape wildfire again this year, the options are perilous. Many live in communities that don't have well-thought-out public evacuation plans and lack the road capacity that's needed to get everyone out fast.

Does this mean people should just shelter in place?

Absolutely not, except as a last-ditch resort, according to wildfire experts.

In many cases, only luck determines whether a temporary refuge ends up being scorched by a fast-moving, powerful and unpredictable wildfire. The safest alternative? Evacuate and do it early, experts say.

"I would never want to delude someone into thinking that they can ride out a fire and live to tell about it," said Roy Wright, president and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety and a vocal opponent of shelter-in-place approaches.

"We should be teaching the public to get out of harm's way," said Wright. Several of his own relatives were living in Paradise, California, when the Camp Fire roared through in November 2018. Those family members safely evacuated, he said.

Even information distributed to residents of San Diego County's Rancho Santa Fe development — a so-called "shelter-in-place community" where every home's materials and all landscaping is designed to the highest fire-resistant standards — strongly urges that early evacuation should always be the first move.

Cliff Hunter, who retired as fire marshal of the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District in 2011, said wildfires typically flash through in 20 minutes or so. The district's homes are built to withstand those blazes, while vegetation is meticulously maintained to "defensible space" standards.

Despite all that, Hunter said, "we recommend evacuation because we don't know how that homeowner will react when that wildland fire comes there."

Wildfires "are very noisy, very loud. Things are hitting your windows. It gets pretty scary and it gets difficult to breathe. If (people) don't know how to function in that kind of environment, they panic" and may abandon their home after it's too late, fleeing into the worst of the fire, he said.

Still, relatively defensible places can become lifesavers when the better options are gone.

___

'WHAT WORKS IN ONE CASE DOESN'T WORK IN OTHERS'

The increasing frequency of wildfires means "we'll need more shelter because there'll be more intense fires burning closer to communities and offering less time" to evacuate, said Tom Cova, a professor of geography at the University of Utah who has studied wildfire's impact on public safety. Equipping homes with the latest fire-resistant features — including upgraded roofs, windows and landscaping — is a necessary part of the equation, he said.

When evacuation is deemed too dangerous, that "shelter will become more important, as a backup plan." Cova said. "Or maybe, if you don't have your mobility, shelter is your first choice."

"Almost every outcome has happened, which is why we can't ever come up with the ultimate protective action. We can't just say, 'just do this,' because the scenarios vary so much that what works in one case doesn't work in others."

In recent years, there have been several instances where fire officials said advance planning and quick decision-making led to shelter-in-place efforts gone right.

— With thousands of patrons inside, just one road out and the 2003 Cedar Fire advancing fast in the middle of the night, San Diego County fire officials knew it wasn't possible to evacuate the Barona Resort and Casino in time. Instead, they put the expansive complex surrounded by protective parking lots on lockdown, using the casino's loudspeakers to tell patrons to stay put. Outside, firetrucks sprayed water on hundreds of cars to keep them from igniting. "It wasn't the preferred thing to do. It was kind of what they were forced to do in those challenging circumstances," said John Todd, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. "A lot of people died in that fire. And probably if they had evacuated the Barona Casino, that toll would have gone up."

— Howling winds during the 2008 Tea Fire pushed that blaze to the campus of Westmont College near Santa Barbara, destroying several residence halls and classrooms. More than 200 students, faculty and staff were evacuated to the Murchison Gymnasium, where they stayed the night. Although the gym was smoky and hot, the building didn't burn and there were no fatalities.

— Hundreds of students sought temporary refuge at Pepperdine University in Malibu last November, even as much of the community surrounding the campus went up in flames during the Woolsey fire. University leaders had encouraged — but not required — students to stay in the Payson Library and Tyler Campus Center rather than join roads full of others trying to escape. The 830-acre campus' low-slung buildings are surrounded by "hundreds of yards of grass" which served as a natural buffer from the wildfire, said Todd. The school's practice of having students shelter in fire-resistant structures on campus is backed by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, but the decision still raised controversy, as The Desert Sun reported at the time.

___

A CENTRAL GATHERING SPOT AS LAST RESORT

During the Camp Fire in Paradise, hundreds of desperate residents sought shelter in precarious and unlikely spots.

Some people fled to Paradise Alliance Church, one of two city-designated gathering points.

A firetruck protected the sanctuary as the wind-driven blaze whipped and raged just beyond the building's doors. The church, along with the residents who sought refuge there, survived.

The other designated disaster gathering spot was a large parking lot between the 765-seat Paradise Performing Arts Center and the Paradise Senior Center on Nunneley Road.

The concert venue still stands. The senior center was destroyed, although no deaths were reported there.

During the height of the Camp Fire disaster, with the main road to safety jammed, fire officials also directed dozens of motorists to a grocery store's large asphalt parking lot. It wasn't designated in advance, but the ad hoc solution worked.

After several harrowing hours amid the smoke, heat and ashes, the wildfire passed, leaving everyone in the parking lot alive.

___

NEW PROPOSALS RAISE QUESTIONS

Still, the bias for early evacuation prevails nearly everywhere. That makes a proposal in Squaw Valley, a dramatic setting in the mountains on the northwest perimeter of Lake Tahoe, somewhat unique.

Like many others, resident Peter Schweitzer worries that should a wildfire ever reach the community where he's lived for 10 years, motorists evacuating on the area's main exit — the winding and narrow Squaw Valley Road — could run into dangerous delays.

But an alternative proposed by the Placer County town's fire officials — having residents and visitors shelter-in-place in the ski resort community's 5,000-car parking lot — makes him even more nervous.

"We've seen how these fires can grow so quickly," said Schweitzer. He fears chaos could ensue if authorities tried to direct thousands of panicked people to the designated shelter-in-place spot.

And, he asked, once residents reached that parking lot, would they really be safe?

"Am I going to stay in the parking lot ... while the fires burn down around me and propane tanks explode and embers are flying and cars catch fire?" said Schweitzer. "I just don't know. I think I'd try to get out."

While that scenario has never occurred in Squaw Valley, the potential is fresh in the minds of many people who live in California's wildfire country, where the new fire season is already arriving.

In Santa Barbara County, Deputy Fire Marshal Rob Hazard has spent time thinking about where people could go if they couldn't get out.

"In the real world," Hazard said, members of the public may have waited too long to evacuate, must retreat due to wildfire, or can't evacuate because their exit road is blocked.

His department is now devising alternatives for people whose evacuation routes are dicey because they live in remote locations along winding mountain roads.

Hazard said the department has scouted out large, undeveloped meadows on private land that could serve as temporary refuge from high intensity wildfires that often pass through quickly.

"We could put 50 people in here in their cars and they could probably ride it out," he said.

Source: Fox News National

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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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