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‘New IRA’ admits killing N Ireland journalist Lyra McKee

An Irish Republican Army splinter group has admitted that one of its "volunteers" killed journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead while reporting on rioting in Londonderry.

In a statement issued Tuesday to the Irish News, the New IRA offered "full and sincere" apologies to McKee's family and friends.

The group said the 29-year-old journalist was killed during Thursday night's unrest "while standing beside enemy forces" — a reference to the police.

No one has been charged. Two teenagers arrested over the shooting were released without charge on Sunday.

The IRA and most other militant groups have disarmed since Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord. The New IRA has been formed from small splinter groups opposed to the peace process and has carried out sporadic bombings and shootings.

Source: Fox News World

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Saudi-led coalition’s air strikes hit Yemeni capital

A man stands at the site of an air strike in al-Jeraf neighbourhood of Sanaa
A man stands at the site of an air strike in al-Jeraf neighbourhood of Sanaa, Yemen April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

April 10, 2019

CAIRO (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes in Yemen against two Houthi targets in Sanaa, the capital, early on Wednesday, its spokesman said.

The coalition said the strikes targeted a Houthi drone-manufacturing plant and a warehouse containing launch pads. Residents said a house was also hit, but no casualties were reported.

Saudi Arabia leads a Western-backed alliance of Yemeni and Arab forces that has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in neighboring Yemen since March 2015, after Houthi forces drove Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. They are fighting to restore Hadi’s internationally recognized government.

The Houthis, who say their revolution is against corruption, control Sanaa and most population centers. The strikes hit the al-Jeraf neighborhood in north Sanaa.

Houthi-run Masirah TV said a fire broke out in a plastics factory as a result of air strikes early on Wednesday.

The U.N. has said that a blast in Sanaa near two schools on Sunday killed 14 children and injured more.

“It was almost lunchtime and students were in class. The blast shattered the windows and unleashed a burst of shrapnel and broken glass into the classrooms,” said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF’s Middle East head.

It is unclear what caused the blast and U.N. Yemen aid coordinator Lise Grande called for efforts to pinpoint the circumstances “that led to this tragedy”.

Yemen’s war has killed tens of thousands of people – some of them by coalition air strikes – and driven 10 million to the brink of famine. The country is also suffering its third major outbreak of cholera since the conflict began.

A peace process that began with a December agreement has stalled and, although a ceasefire largely holds in Hodeidah, Yemen’s main port, violence continues elsewhere and has escalated in recent weeks.

The U.N. is trying to get the parties to pull troops out of Hodeidah and complete a prisoner exchange, two confidence- building measures which could pave the way for further talks.

(Reporting by Mohamed El-Sherif, writing by Lisa Barrington; editing by Sandra Maler, Michael Perry, Larry King)

Source: OANN

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Auto giants battle used car dealers for Africa’s huge market

The Mobius II first generation SUV by Kenyan car maker Mobius Motors is seen in the company's show room in Nairobi
The Mobius II first generation SUV by Kenyan car maker Mobius Motors is seen in the company's show room in Nairobi, Kenya March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

April 12, 2019

By Joe Bavier, Emma Rumney and Duncan Miriri

JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI (Reuters) – At the edge of Nairobi’s Ngong Forest, thousands of used cars glitter in the hot sun on a dusty field, waiting for buyers.

Imported from Japan or the Middle East, they offer an affordable route to vehicle ownership in Kenya and have dominated the market for decades.

That is an obstacle big carmakers must overcome if they are to crack Africa, a market promising rapid growth as trade tensions threaten sales elsewhere. African consumers also still need conventional engines just as demand in more traditional markets is curbed by restrictions on carbon emissions.

Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Nissan and others have joined forces to lobby governments for steps that would reduce the imports that have made sub-Saharan Africa notoriously difficult terrain and allow local production to flourish.

“The question on Africa isn’t, ‘Is it a market of the future?'” Mike Whitfield, Nissan’s top executive for Africa, told Reuters. “It’s a case of when.”

Four years after forming the Association of African Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) their efforts are starting to bear fruit. Carmakers that set up local assembly plants could get tax holidays of up to 10 years and duty exemptions in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, according to government plans seen by Reuters.

Thomas Schaefer, who heads Volkswagen’s Africa business, said there is a potential market in sub-Saharan Africa for 3 to 4 million new cars, up from just 420,000 in 2017.

But that will require addressing the well-entrenched interests of second-hand car dealers, smugglers and lowering the price of new cars.

“It will largely depend on how successful the African governments are in limiting the amounts of second-hand imports and how price-competitive new vehicles can be with their tariffs,” said Craig Parker, Africa research director at Frost & Sullivan, a U.S.-based market research firm.

MULTIPLYING EFFECTS

Africa’s population and household incomes are rising rapidly. But its 1 billion inhabitants account for only 1 percent of the world’s new passenger car sales, industry data shows. South Africans bought over 85 percent of those vehicles.

The AAAM identified Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana as potential manufacturing hubs and helped draft legislation setting up standards and incentives.

Details of governments’ plans provided to Reuters demonstrate that African nations are keen to secure a spot as a beachhead for the industry.

Nigeria and Ghana are preparing to offer automakers tax holidays of up to 10 years and duty-free imports of parts and components used in local assembly. Nigeria also plans to double the levy on new, fully-built imported vehicles to 70 percent to boost demand for locally produced cars, though the policy’s approval has been delayed.

In Kenya, automakers will pay no import or excise duties and get a 50-percent corporate tax break.

For African nations facing massive demographic pressures, such concessions make sense if they create jobs, said Jelani Aliyu, of Nigeria’s National Automotive Design and Development Council.

“The multiplying effects are exponential,” said Aliyu, who foresees supporting industries developing around the plants.

Legislative and fiscal frameworks are being finalised, but companies are already investing millions of dollars in new plants.

VW and Nissan have set up operations in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana or have pledged to do so. Honda and Peugeot have launched assembly plants in Nigeria, and Peugeot has done the same in Kenya.

Carmakers sorely need the business. Their South African divisions, which typically direct operations elsewhere on the continent, face stagnating domestic sales and scant growth prospects in their main export market, Europe. A chaotic Brexit or U.S. tariff hikes could further dampen sales.

Toyota South Africa’s chief executive Andrew Kirby said the strategy is: “Focus on Africa because Africa is going to grow significantly.”

A pivot to Africa could also help insulate automakers from the immediate effects of the electric vehicle revolution. The continent is ill-placed to join it at the moment due to the higher prices of EVs and unreliable power grids.

Just 66 electric cars were sold last year in South Africa – the continent’s most developed economy.

“Africa will most likely remain as the last bastion of internal combustion engines,” Parker said.

DISTORTED MARKET

Nevertheless, industry officials say the biggest hurdle to developing the market for new cars is dumping from countries such as Japan, where strict vehicle inspections force cars out of circulation after just a few years.

They say this distorts the market by allowing dealers to buy the cars at scrap prices and export them to Africa.

They blame the cheap imports for killing off assembly sectors in a number of African countries including Nigeria, which built around 150,000 cars per year until the 1980s.

Political will is needed to change that, and without it there is little point in considering a country for local production, according to VW’s Schaefer.

“The markets … are literally not functioning right now due to importation of used vehicles,” he said.

In Kenya, the government plans to wind down imports of cars more than three years old by 2021. Exceptions will be made for passenger vehicles with 1.5 liter or smaller engines.

The policy could see mid-range imported models double in price, according to the 300-member Kenya Auto Bazaar Association (KABA). The lobby group has taken out ads in local newspapers denouncing the policy and is demanding a meeting with Kenya’s president.

Mark Oburu, KABA’s vice-chairman, said the move would hit an industry that delivers 85 percent of Kenyan car purchases.

“The middle class will not be able to own a vehicle of their choice,” he said.

In the Nairobi bazaar, Grace was shopping for her eldest son’s first car. She said she could not afford to buy a new one.

“If they don’t rescind that decision, we will be on boda bodas (motor-bikes).”

Both Ghana and Nigeria have also pledged to tackle the issue. Nigeria hiked taxes on imported used cars in 2014, but smuggling has undermined that effort to boost demand for local production, according to manufacturers and government officials.

Used cars are also among the leading imports in many African countries, and governments will have to wean themselves off the associated tax revenues.

There are other stumbling blocks: access to financing is limited, and countries that don’t host assembly plants must also be persuaded to limit used imports and reduce tariffs on African-made vehicles. That will be hard to do if the only outcome they see is higher sticker prices.

“The purpose is not to take the most lucrative slice of the industry,” said Ghana’s minister of trade and industry, Alan Kyerematen, suggesting that neighbors could produce components for his country’s assembly plants.

Auto executives acknowledge the challenges but point to a famous precedent. When VW and GM entered China in the 1980s and 90s, vehicle ownership rates were lower than in many African markets. Today, those two companies alone sell over 3.5 million vehicles annually in China.

“Everybody was laughing, saying China doesn’t need cars, they only need bicycles,” Schaefer said.

(Joe Bavier and Emma Rumney reported in Johannesburg and Duncan Miriri in Nairobi; Additional reporting by Clement Uwiringiyimana in Kigali and Chijioke Ohuocha in Lagos; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Anna Willard)

Source: OANN

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EU demands scrutiny of 5G risks but no bloc-wide Huawei ban

FILE PHOTO: A surveillance camera is seen in front of Huawei logo outside its factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: A surveillance camera is seen in front of the Huawei logo outside its factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Foo Yun Chee

STRASBOURG (Reuters) – EU nations will be required to share data on 5G cybersecurity risks and produce measures to tackle them by the end of the year, the European Commission said on Tuesday, shunning U.S. calls to ban China’s Huawei Technologies across the bloc.

The aim is to use tools available under existing security rules plus cross-border cooperation, the bloc’s executive body said as it addressed issues surrounding expansion of the next-generation networks that are key to online connectivity between everything from vehicles to household devices.

The European Union move came despite U.S. pressure to boycott Huawei, citing fears of China using the company’s equipment for espionage. Huawei has strongly rejected the allegations and launched a lawsuit against the U.S. government.

The EU provided additional detail on the plans first reported by Reuters on March 22, with European digital chief Andrus Ansip saying that the measures announced on Tuesday aimed to address concerns about foreign governments using companies for espionage.

Last week French President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe was wakening up to potential Chinese dominance in the region.

Ansip said that 5G technology would transform the economy and society, but that this cannot happen without full security built in.

“It is therefore essential that 5G infrastructures in the EU are resilient and fully secure from technical or legal backdoors,” Ansip said in a statement.

EU countries have until the end of June to assess cybersecurity risks related to 5G, leading to an bloc-wide assessment by Oct. 1. Using this, EU countries would then have to agree measures to mitigate risks by the end of the year.

Such measures could include certification requirements and tests of products or suppliers regarded as potential security risks. The bloc will decide by Oct. 1, 2020, whether to take further action.

The EU has already passed a new law to give permanent status to the EU Cybersecurity Agency and to guide on cybersecurity certification.

The Commission said it will be up to individual EU countries to decide if they want to exclude companies from their markets on national security grounds.

Big telecoms operators, which view 5G as the next big moneyspinner, oppose a Huawei ban, saying that such a move could set back 5G deployment by years.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment ahead of the likes of Sweden’s Ericsson and Finnish company Nokia, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and U.S.-led allegations that its equipment could be used for spying.

Australia and New Zealand have stopped operators using Huawei equipment in their 5G networks.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and David Goodman)

Source: OANN

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British aid worker killed by Nigerian kidnappers during attack on holiday resort

A British aid worker and a Nigerian man were shot dead after being kidnapped with three other people in an attack at a resort in Nigeria on Friday, officials said.

The British High Commission said in a statement Sunday that Faye Mooney, 29, was killed when gunmen attacked the Kajuru Castle holiday resort in Kaduna state, located in the north-central part of Nigeria.

Mooney worked as a communications specialist for the aid group Mercy Corps, and was one of 12 tourists traveling to Kaduna from Lagos, according to Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo.

AMERICAN TOURIST, GUIDE WHO WERE FREED AFTER KIDNAPPING IN UGANDA PICTURED AS TRUMP URGES CAPTORS' CAPTURE

The 29-year-old, who has lived in Nigeria for nearly two years, was attending a party before the incident, Sky News reported.

Faye Mooney, 29, had lived in Nigeria for two years and worked as a communications specialist for Mercy Corps before the deadly attack on Friday.

Faye Mooney, 29, had lived in Nigeria for two years and worked as a communications specialist for Mercy Corps before the deadly attack on Friday. (YouTube)

Mercy Corps said in a statement it was "utterly heartbroken" by the killing.

"Faye was a dedicated and passionate communications and learning specialist who had worked with Mercy Corps for almost two years, devoting her time to making a difference in Nigeria, supporting our teams and the communities we work with to tell their stories of impact, and leading efforts to counter hate speech and violence," the group said.

AMERICAN TOURIST, DRIVER ABDUCTED IN UGANDA RELEASED BY CAPTORS, OFFICIALS SAY

Sabo told reporters the gunmen kidnapped three other people but officials did not release details of their nationalities. Officers have not yet named the other person killed in the incident.

No individuals or groups have claimed responsibility for the killings, and police have yet to identify the kidnappers.

Northern Nigeria has been dealing with violence from Islamic militants affiliated with Boko Haram and ISIS, in addition to clashes between farmers and herders, in which hundreds have died.

The region has seen a spate of kidnappings by armed men in recent months, according to Sky News.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Earlier this month, an American tourist and her safari guide were kidnapped by gunmen in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. Kimberly Sue Endicott and her guide, Jean-Paul Mirenge Ramezo, were eventually found alive in Congo, where their kidnappers had taken them after abducting them.

The kidnappers had demanded a $500,000 ransom after abducting the two at gunpoint. Ugandan officials say no ransom was paid, but a tourism operator said that money was paid to secure Endicott's release.

Fox News' Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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MLB roundup: Dodgers get to Hader, win sixth straight

MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers
Apr 19, 2019; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Enrique Hernandez (14) follows through on a swing for a three-run home run during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

April 20, 2019

Enrique Hernandez hit a three-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to six games with a 5-3 victory Friday over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Hernandez connected on an 0-2 pitch against Brewers All-Star closer Josh Hader (0-1) to break a 2-2 tie and score A.J. Pollock and David Freese, both of whom walked. It was Hernandez’s fifth home run of the season.

Christian Yelich hit a home run for the second consecutive game and for the sixth time in five games as the Brewers lost their third consecutive game overall and their third consecutive against the Dodgers since Sunday. Milwaukee’s Eric Thames hit his third home run in the eighth.

Pedro Baez (1-1) recorded two outs in the seventh inning to pick up the victory. Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save and his third in three days.

Yankees 6, Royals 2

CC Sabathia allowed an unearned run in five innings and Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer as New York beat Kansas City at Yankee Stadium.

After throwing 62 pitches in his return from cardiac surgery and a knee injury in his season debut Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, Sabathia (1-0) was stretched out further this time and delivered an 86-pitch outing. He worked around four walks and held the Royals to three hits while getting five strikeouts for his 247th career win.

Gardner provided the Yankees with a 2-1 lead when he blasted 2-0 fastball from Kansas City starter Jakob Junis (1-2) over the right-center field fence in the third. Mike Tauchman also homered in the fifth as the Yankees won for the third time in four games despite committing three errors.

Rockies 4, Phillies 3 (12 innings)

Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning as Colorado rallied to beat Philadelphia in Denver.

Bryce Harper had five hits and Rhys Hoskins and Maikel Franco had three hits apiece for the Phillies, who saw two players leave with injuries — Andrew McCutchen was hurt on a swing in the second inning and shortstop Scott Kingery suffered a right hamstring injury running to first in his third at-bat.

The Phillies took a 3-2 lead on Harper’s RBI double in the top of the 12th off Chad Bettis (1-2) but Colorado came back against Juan Nicasio (0-1). Tony Wolters drew a one-out walk and after Raimel Tapia popped out, Blackmon hit a 1-2 fastball into the Philadelphia bullpen to end it.

Astros 7, Rangers 2

Justin Verlander worked seven strong innings and was backed by an offense that produced seven extra-base hits as Houston claimed the opener of its three-game series with Texas at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

Verlander (3-0) gave up his first hit with two outs in the fourth inning and carried a shutout into the sixth. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Rangers second baseman Danny Santana in that frame but recovered to complete his outing with flair, getting three successive called strikes against Texas center fielder Delino DeShields.

The Astros got off to a rousing start against Rangers left-hander Drew Smyly (0-2), with George Springer (double), Jose Altuve (home run) and Alex Bregman (home run) reaching in succession to open the game. When Altuve added an RBI single in the second, Houston led 4-0 and cruised from there.

Cubs 5, Diamondbacks 1

Kyle Hendricks pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 11 as Chicago snapped visiting Arizona’s four-game winning streak on a cold, blustery Friday afternoon.

Hendricks (1-3) gave up three hits and walked two. Steve Cishek pitched the eighth to run the Cubs’ scoreless innings streak to 31 before the Diamondbacks rallied off Brad Brach in the ninth.

Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (1-2) worked around two walks in a 33-pitch first inning and was almost out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the second when Kris Bryant hit what normally would have been a lazy fly behind second base. But the wind took over and second baseman Wilmer Flores stumbled while chasing the ball, which fell into shallow right field for a two-run double.

Pirates 4, Giants 1

Right-hander Jordan Lyles pitched six four-hit, scoreless innings before leaving because of a hand injury, and Pittsburgh earned a fourth consecutive win, beating visiting San Francisco.

Lyles (2-0), Pittsburgh’s fifth starter and part of a rotation that led the National League entering the night with a collective 2.09 ERA, struck out six and walked one. He lowered his ERA to 0.53. Lyles left after an inning-ending double-play comebacker by Joe Panik in the sixth grazed his pitching hand as he instinctively ducked and raised his hands. He was being evaluated for a contusion. The Pirates also lost center fielder Starling Marte and shortstop Erik Gonzalez when they collided while chasing a fly ball in the eighth.

Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (1-3) gave up four first-inning runs before settling down to go another five innings. He allowed six hits and one walk while striking out seven.

Marlins 3, Nationals 2

Miami ended its 24-inning scoreless streak early in the game and went on to defeat Washington at Marlins Park, ending a four-game losing streak and winning for just the third time in its last 16 contests.

Left-hander Caleb Smith (2-0) earned the victory, giving up one run on five hits without walking a batter while striking out eight in six innings. He has 29 strikeouts in 23 innings this year.

Washington’s Anibal Sanchez — who made his major league debut with the Marlins in 2006 and had a no-hitter in six-plus seasons with the franchise — took the loss to fall to 0-2. He allowed five hits, four walks and three runs in 5 1/3 innings. He also struck out six.

Mets 5, Cardinals 4

Wilson Ramos and J.D. Davis had back-to-back RBI hits in the first inning for visiting New York, which never trailed but needed to survive a late comeback by St. Louis to end a two-game losing streak. The Cardinals have lost three of four.

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright (1-2) retired the first two batters of the game before giving up a double to Robinson Cano, who had a season-high three hits. Michael Conforto walked, after which Ramos singled home Cano before Davis doubled to score Conforto.

Seth Lugo (1-0), the first of five Mets relievers, earned the win despite allowing two runs in two innings. Edwin Diaz allowed a pair of baserunners before retiring Molina on a lineout to close out his seventh save. The two runs Lugo gave up came off the bat of pinch hitter Lane Thomas, who hit a two-run homer in his first big league plate appearance.

Reds 3, Padres 2 (11 innings)

Derek Dietrich hit a two-run homer off Craig Stammen with one out in the 11th inning to lead Cincinnati past host San Diego and hand the Padres their fifth straight loss after an 11-5 start to the season. The Reds scored a second straight win following four consecutive defeats.

Right-handed reliever Jared Hughes (2-0) pitched one scoreless inning for the win, and Michael Lorenzen recorded his first save. Stammen (2-1) took the loss after yielding two runs (one earned) in two innings.

Dietrich’s homer followed a pitching duel between starters Anthony DeSclafani of Cincinnati and Matt Strahm of San Diego, each of whom gave up a solo home run and only two hits.

Red Sox 6, Rays 4

Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland hit back-to-back home runs to break an eighth-inning tie as Boston beat Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Betts, critical of himself earlier this week for his poor play to begin the season, went deep to dead center to lead off the eighth for a 5-4 lead, and Moreland followed with a blast to right-center as Boston snapped a three-game losing streak, with Brandon Workman (1-1) getting the win in relief.

The Rays lost for just the third time in their past 11 games. Diego Castillo (0-2), who served up both eighth-inning homers to the only two batters he faced, took the loss.

White Sox 7, Tigers 3

Yoan Moncada homered, scored twice and drove in two runs, Carlos Rodon pitched six strong innings, and Chicago topped host Detroit.

Moncada hit his sixth homer this season, a solo shot in the first inning. Leury Garcia and Jose Abreu also drove in two runs apiece, while Ryan Cordell scored twice. Rodon (3-2) held the Tigers to one run on three hits, walking three and striking struck out six.

Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann (0-3) allowed five runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked four against the White Sox, who were without shortstop Tim Anderson and manager Rick Renteria as they served one-game league suspensions for their conduct during a benches-clearing incident against Kansas City on Wednesday.

Mariners 5, Angels 3

Tim Beckham and Omar Narvaez hit back-to-back solo homers in the ninth inning to lift Seattle over host Los Angeles for the second straight night.

As they did on Thursday, the Mariners broke a tie in the ninth off Angels reliever Cody Allen (0-2) and spoiled a late-game comeback by Los Angeles. The Angels rallied from a 10-2 deficit in the seventh inning of the series opener on Thursday, tied the score in the eighth, but lost 11-10.

Mike Trout hit a two-run homer off Mariners starter Marco Gonzales in the eighth on Friday to tie the score at 3-3, ending Gonzales’ bid to become the first 5-0 pitcher in the majors. Zac Rosscup (2-0) got the final two outs of the eighth, and Roenis Elias pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Blue Jays 5, A’s 1

Danny Jansen highlighted a four-run second inning with a two-RBI double and right-hander Marcus Stroman pitched into the ninth for his first win of the season as Toronto rolled over host Oakland in the opener of a three-game series.

Brandon Drury took A’s starter Aaron Brooks (2-2) deep for his first home run of the season, helping Toronto win for the fourth time in five games on their seven-game trip. Stroman (1-3), who had watched the Blue Jays score a total of six runs in his first four starts, got an early boost from the four-run second.

Stroman was dominant in his eight-plus innings, allowing one run and six hits. He walked two and struck out six.

Twins at Orioles, ppd.

Minnesota’s scheduled game at Baltimore was rained out. The contest will be made up as part of a doubleheader Saturday.

Braves at Indians, ppd.

Atlanta’s scheduled game at Cleveland was rained out. The contest will be made up as part of a doubleheader Saturday.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Trump Announces Major Offensive Against Deep State Coup

President Trump, in an exclusive wide-ranging interview Wednesday night with Fox News’ “Hannity,” vowed to release the full and unredacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants and related documents used by the FBI to probe his campaign, saying he wants to “get to the bottom” of how the long-running Russia collusion narrative began.

Trump told anchor Sean Hannity that his lawyers previously had advised him not to take that dramatic step out of fear that it could be considered obstruction of justice.

“I do, I have plans to declassify and release. I have plans to absolutely release,” Trump said. “I have some very talented people working for me, lawyers, they really didn’t want me to do it early on.”

Trump also accused FBI officials of committing “treason” — slamming former FBI Director James Comey as a “terrible guy,” former CIA Director John Brennan as potentially mentally ill, and Democrat House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as a criminal.

Redacted versions of FISA documents already released have revealed that the FBI extensively relied on documents produced by Christopher Steele, an anti-Trump British ex-spy working for a firm funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, to surveil Trump aide Carter Page. At least one senior DOJ official had apparent concerns Steele was unreliable, according to text messages exclusively obtained last week by Fox News.

The leaked dossier, and related FBI surveillance, kickstarted a media frenzy on alleged Russia-Trump collusion that ended with a whimper on Sunday, when it was revealed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe concluded finding no evidence of such a conspiracy, despite several offers by Russians to help the Trump campaign. Page was never charged with wrongdoing.

Citing a high-level source, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul late Wednesday tweeted that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan had internally pushed the dossier. Fox News has not independently verified Paul’s source.

“I think Brennan’s a sick person, really I do,” Trump said, sharply criticizing Brennan’s “horrible” claims in recent weeks that Trump had committed treason himself. “I think there’s something wrong with him.”

Brennan was one of the loudest and most virulent voices to trumpet the Russian collusion theory over the past two years, asserting falsely just weeks ago that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was likely planning to indict members of the Trump administration’s family in a scene reminiscent of the “ides of March” and the assassination of Julius Caesar. He since implied he had “bad information.”

“When I said there could be somebody spying on my campaign, it went wild out there,” Trump told Hannity. “They couldn’t believe I could say such a thing. As it turned out, that was small potatoes compared to what went on. … Millions and millions [spent] on the phony dossier, and then they used the dossier to start things. It was a fraud, paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.”

Just hours earlier Wednesday, Trump made clear he was enthusiastic about the idea of appointing a second special counsel to review the origins of the Russia investigation when it came up during a meeting Tuesday with Republican senators, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News.

In an apparent shot at former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump also told Hannity “this all would not have happened” if Attorney General William Barr had been with his administration from the beginning.

“If you wrote this as a novel, nobody would buy it; it would be a failure, because it would be too unbelievable,” Trump said. “We’re getting to the bottom of it. This can never, ever happen to a president again. That was a disgrace and an embarrassment to our country. … Hopefully they won’t get away with it.”

“We’ll have to see how it all started, but I’m going to leave that to other people, including the attorney general and others, to make that determination,” Trump continued. “Fifty years, 100 years from now — if someone tries the same thing, they have to know the penalty will be very very great if and when they get caught.”

Trump also lashed out at Schiff, D-Calif., who has pushed strongly for investigations into possible Trump-Russia links. “Schiff is a bad guy, he knew he was lying — he’s not a dummy. For a year and a half he would just leak and call up CNN and others. You know, I watch him, so sanctimonious … He knew it was a lie, and he’d get in the back room with his friends in the Democrat Party, and they would laugh like hell. In one way, you could say it’s a crime what he did — he was making statements he knew were false. He’s a disgrace to our country.”

The president insisted the U.S. should have a “great relationship” with Russia and China, but that the “fake news” and “nonsense” distorted his intentions into something more sinister.


(Win McNamee / Getty)

Trump also criticized Comey, whom he’d fired in 2017, as a “terrible guy.” He insisted he did not fire him to obstruct justice, telling Hannity he knew that firing Comey would only increase scrutiny on the White House.

“It was treason, it was really treason,” Trump said, referring to texts between former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that discussed an “insurance policy” in the event of Trump’s election.

“You had dirty cops, you had people who are bad FBI folks … At the top, they were not clean, to put it mildly.” He said later, “We can never allow these treasonous acts to happen to another president.”

Separately, Trump also said he hopes Democrats continue pushing the Green New Deal, which flamed out in a test vote on Tuesday, as most Democrats voted “present” instead of going on record supporting the sweeping transformation of the entire U.S. economy.

Trump’s interview came as multiple GOP lawmakers have claimed the president trampled all over what may have been the best week of his presidency by backing the complete overturn of ObamaCare.

On Monday, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans to affirm last year’s ruling by a Texas federal judge stating that the Affordable Care Act was no longer constitutional because the 2017 tax reform legislation eliminated the health care law’s penalty for not having health insurance.

Multiple congressional Republicans told Fox News they were bothered by the timing of the Trump administration’s intervention in the matter, which came on the heels of the Mueller report findings, the House sustaining the president’s veto of a bill to halt the national emergency for the border wall and a Senate vote that shined a spotlight on what conservatives described as problems with the Green New Deal, championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.


A flashback look at the Deep State and establishment media hype over the now “debunked” Trump, Russia collusion narrative.

Source: InfoWars

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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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