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U.S., Russia to find ways to lift travel ban on Taliban leaders for peace talks

FILE PHOTO - A member of the Taliban holds a flag in Kabul
FILE PHOTO - A member of the Taliban holds a flag in Kabul, Afghanistan June 16, 2018. The writing on the flag reads: 'There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah'. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

February 23, 2019

KABUL (Reuters) – The United States and Russia have agreed to explore options on securing travel waivers for Taliban negotiators to participate in talks to end the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. peace envoy said ahead of a fresh round of peace talks scheduled on Monday.

Lifting the travel ban imposed over Taliban leaders by the United Nations has been one of the key demands of the hardline Islamic group that started negotiations with U.S. officials in 2018 to end the 17-year-old war.

U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the peace talks with the Taliban, discussed the issue of lifting the travel ban for Taliban leaders with his Russian counterpart Zamir Kabulov in Ankara on Friday.

“Amb (Ambassador) Kabulov and I also discussed travel barriers to talks. We will explore options for securing UN travel waivers for Taliban negotiators to participate in peace talks,” he wrote on Twitter.

U.S. officials familiar with discussions said lifting the travel ban on some Taliban leaders could help accelerate the pace of ongoing negotiations.

The Afghan Taliban said it would resume negotiations on Monday with the United States in Qatar, insisting the meeting “will prove positive” despite propaganda against the peace process.

Last week the Taliban had to call off meetings in Pakistan after the Afghan government protested to the United Nations Security Council that leaders of the insurgent group were violating travel restrictions under international sanctions.

However, the Taliban leaders have managed to evade restrictions, raising questions about the United Nations’ efforts in limiting their movements.

In recent months, Taliban representatives have visited Tehran, Beijing and Moscow.

The Afghan government was angered that regional countries have been facilitating trips for leaders of the insurgent group, including a conference in Moscow where a Taliban delegation met with Afghan opposition politicians.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Source: OANN

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Old Rules of Thumb Yield to Even Older Ones

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Success in politics -- and in political predictions -- depends on the ability to distinguish between old rules of thumb that don't apply any more and old rules of thumb that do.

Take the old rule that an officeholder's chances of re-election depend on what James Carville in 1992 took to calling "the economy, stupid."

That used to be a real thing. The Great Depression took President Herbert Hoover down from 58 percent of the vote in 1928 to 40 percent in 1932. The return of economic growth enabled President Franklin Roosevelt to increase his 57 percent in 1932 to 61 percent in 1936, and then to win re-election twice in the shadow of World War II in the 1940s.

Amid recession, President Ronald Reagan's job approval sunk to 41 percent in January 1983. Amid surging growth, it rose to 58 percent in October 1984. A month later, he won 59 percent of the popular vote and carried 49 states.

During President Donald Trump's time in office, the economy has improved sharply, with record-low unemployment and -- something not seen since Reagan's time or before -- with the biggest income gains for low earners. The public's rating of the economy has improved sharply as well.

But Trump's job approval has barely changed at all. After hitting a low of 37 percent in the RealClearPolitics average of public polls in December 2017, it has remained steady for more than a year, oscillating between 40 and 44 percent.

Analysts have attributed wobbles upward or downward to specific events. But given the inexactitude inevitable in polling, they may not represent any change at all. Trump's numbers remain slightly below the high 40s, the pre-election-year approval numbers of recent presidents who have won a second term. But their approval numbers were closely tied to perceptions of the economy. Trump's aren't.

One reason old political rules stop working is that one generation of voters has different experiences from those of the generations before. Voters who remembered the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s rewarded incumbent presidents who seemed to have produced prosperity and peace with landslide re-elections.

They were willing to cross party lines to express their gratitude for policies that seemed to prevent the horrors that were all too familiar. So incumbent presidents of both parties won between 57 and 61 percent of the popular vote in 1956, 1964, 1972 and 1984. Since 1988, only a shrinking sliver of voters remembers what Americans used to call "the depression" and "the war," and no president has won more than 53 percent.

Just as Trump has not been able to raise his job rating to the improving economy, so his political enemies have not been able to lower it significantly. Each new supposedly shocking personal revelation has failed to shock; each eagerly whispered allegation of criminal collusion has failed to disenchant.

It's apparent now that Trump's support -- the 21st-century Republican core minus a couple million white college grads, plus a couple million white non-grads -- is sticking with him pretty much regardless of events or outcomes. And that the coalition that makes up the 21st-century Democrats, with the reverse adjustments, is solidly arrayed against.

This is actually in line with old political rules, rules with origins far before the 1930s and 1940s. The Republican Party, from its formation in 1854, has been built around a core of people considered to be ordinary Americans but not by themselves a majority. The Democratic Party, from its formation in 1832, has been a coalition of those regarded as out-peoples, often at odds with one another but together often a majority.

Both parties' voters today are acting characteristically. The vast body of Republicans has no truck with the plaints of never-Trumpers. The Democrats are in turmoil, panicking at the possibility of having enemies on the left, to the point that House Democrats at first couldn't pass a resolution decrying the blatant anti-Semitism of one of their own.

So we see multiple presidential candidates racing to embrace programs with 8 to 20-some percent support in the general electorate -- racial reparations, ninth-month abortions, tearing down existing border walls, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

We see eminences, hoarse from denouncing Donald Trump for violating longstanding norms, now advocating the abolishment of the Electoral College; packing the Supreme Court; enacting the 16-year-old vote and the Green New Deal, with its abolition of gas-powered automobiles and flatulent cattle.

Old rules of thumb, it seems, can yield to even older ones.

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Florida woman, 20, caring for 5 siblings after parents’ death, gets gift of a new car

A story that captured the hearts of many back in December has gone viral again after a Florida community raised money to buy a new car for 20-year-old Samantha Rodriguez, who became the caretaker for her five younger siblings after the tragic deaths of both parents.

Samantha and her five siblings, ages 6 to 15, lost both parents to cancer over the last few years. When the the Orange County Sheriff's Office heard that Samantha became the caretaker for her younger siblings, they wanted to ensure that the family had a special Christmas.

Officers with the OCSO Aviation Unit invited the Rodriguez children to the station, where they thought they were receiving a tour of the facility, but when they arrived they were met with a room full of gifts.

The initial story touched the community so much so that over the months that followed, several donors reached out to the sheriff’s office with a way to help the family.

On April 4, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office presented Samantha with a new 2018 Nissan Versa sedan.

“You don’t know how much this means to us and it’s such a big help, really,” she said with total shock. “Doing everything on my own is very hard but I’m so glad to have people like you guys in my life.”

A video posted to the OCSO Facebook page showed the moment Samantha surprised her siblings with generous gift.

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“This is our car guys!” she said her brother and sisters were heard shouting with excitement.

“This is ours?” one of the Rodriguez children can be heard saying.

“We love you guys!”

Source: Fox News National

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Defense asks for cop's acquittal on murder in teen's death

After prosecutors wrapped up their case, the lawyer for a white former police officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager asked a judge Thursday to issue an acquittal on murder charges.

Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld shot and killed 17-year-old Antwon Rose II after pulling over a car suspected to have been involved in a drive-by shooting. Rose was a passenger in the unlicensed cab and was shot as he fled.

Prosecutors charged Rosfeld with an open count of homicide, meaning the jury has the option of convicting him of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

Defense lawyer Patrick Thomassey asked the judge to clear Rosfeld of murder, saying prosecutors failed to show he acted with malice as required under the law. Thomassey made his motion after prosecutors rested their case.

"What we have is a police officer doing his duty. There's not a hardness of heart required for first- or third-degree murder," Thomassey said. "We have a burst of three shots in one second on a fleeing felon and we're going to charge him with murder? It's not fair."

Prosecutor Daniel Fitzsimmons said the fact that Rosfeld shot a fleeing Rose in the back was evidence of malice.

Even if the judge ruled in the defense's favor, Rosfeld could still be convicted of manslaughter.

The judge said he would rule later Thursday.

Prosecutors ended their case by calling three expert witnesses to the stand, including a firearms analyst who matched one of the bullets recovered from Rose's body to Rosfeld's gun — a formality since it's not in dispute that Rosfeld fire the fatal shots.

Raymond Everett of the Allegheny County medical examiner's office also told jurors that two guns with extended magazines were recovered from the car.

Rose had been riding in the front seat of the unlicensed taxi when Zaijuan Hester, in the backseat, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street. Rosfeld pulled the car over minutes later.

Hester pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated assault and firearms violations for the shooting, which wounded a man in the abdomen. The 18-year-old told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting.

A neighbor shot video of Rosfeld's fatal encounter with Rose that was played for the jury. The video was posted online, triggering protests in the Pittsburgh area last year.

Source: Fox News National

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Report: Honda to shut UK plant, imperiling 3,500 jobs

Britain's Sky News says Honda is to close a car factory in western England with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs.

The broadcaster says the Japanese carmaker will announce Tuesday that the Swindon plant, where Honda makes its Civic model, will close in 2022.

Honda said Monday it could not comment "at this stage." The Unite trade union, which represents workers at the plant, said it was looking into the report.

The report comes as British businesses are issuing increasingly urgent warnings about the damage being done by the uncertainty around Britain's looming exit from the European Union.

The U.K. is set to leave the bloc on March 29 but has yet to seal a deal laying out the divorce terms and establishing what trade rules will apply after Brexit.

Source: Fox News World

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Asylum applications in EU fall to pre-crisis levels

FILE PHOTO: Tents where migrants live are seen in the downtown of Nantes
FILE PHOTO: Tents where migrants live are seen in the downtown of Nantes, France, September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo

March 14, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Applications for political asylum in the European Union dropped last year to levels seen before Europe’s migration crisis in 2015, the EU statistics agency said on Thursday.

The findings confirm a downward trend recorded by EU border and coast guard agency Frontex, which estimated that around 150,000 people entered the EU through irregular crossings last year, the fewest in five years and far below the peak of more than a million recorded in 2015.

That year saw Europe’s biggest spike in migration since World War Two, prompted by an influx of refugees from Syria’s civil war and a significant rise in numbers from other areas of the Middle East and Africa plagued by conflict and deprivation.

At the peak of the crisis, the number of first-time asylum seekers in the EU exceeded 1.2 million.

In 2018, however, the number of first-time asylum seekers fell to around 580,000, marking an 11 percent fall from 2017 and a return to 2014 pre-crisis levels, Eurostat said.

Germany last year remained the prime destination for asylum applicants, followed by France, Greece, Spain and Italy. Rome, now with an anti-immigrant party sharing power, recorded the biggest drop in applications last year.

By contrast, applications rose by 70 percent in Cyprus, the biggest increase among the EU’s 28 states. The Mediterranean island also recorded the highest number of applications relative to population, followed by Greece and Malta.

Syrians still comprised the highest number of asylum seekers, with more than half registered in Germany. Afghans came next followed by Iraqis, Eurostat data showed.

(Reporting by Clare Roth; Editing by Francesco Guarascio and Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Dozens killed in fire at Cairo train station triggered by fuel tank explosion on speeding train

An Egyptian medical official said Wednesday that 25 people were killed and at least 50 were injured when a major fire erupted at the main train station in Cairo.

Mohammed Said, the head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said the death toll is expected to rise.

The fire is said to have been triggered by a fuel tank explosion on a speeding train headed into the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo. Several witnesses said they saw fire coming out of the train's engine before it crashed.

"I was standing on the platform and I saw the train speed into the barrier,” eyewitness Mina Ghaly told Reuters. “Everyone started running but a lot of people died after the locomotive exploded. I saw at least nine corpses lying on the ground, charred.”

People gather around a suitcase after a train crash inside Ramsis train station in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019.  (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

People gather around a suitcase after a train crash inside Ramsis train station in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019.  (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 2 POLICE BY FAMED CAIRO TOURIST MARKET

Ibrahim Hussein, an eyewitness also told Reuters: “I saw a man pointing from the locomotive as it entered the platform, and screaming ‘There are no brakes, there are no brakes’ before he jumped out of the locomotive. And I don’t know what happened to him.”

Ahmed Abdeltawab said the platform had been crowded with people waiting for another train when "fire overwhelmed them and they ran while they were on fire until they fell meters from the incident."

AMTRAK TRAIN WITH 183 PASSENGERS IS MOVING AFTER BEING STUCK FOR 36 HOURS IN OREGON

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli visited the chaotic scene and said the cause of the collision had not been determined.

"We will identify who is responsible for the accident and they will be held accountable," he told the BBC.

People gather outside Ramsis train station in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

People gather outside Ramsis train station in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

The country's general prosecutor, Nabil Sadek, has ordered an investigation into the deadly crash. Egypt has one of the oldest rail networks in the region, with accidents causing casualties being fairly common. All train departures and arrivals to the station have been suspended.

Ali Ramadan told Reuters he suffered burns and injured his foot when he ran into a concrete bench on the platform.

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“I don’t know when these train accidents will end ... They told us they got millions of dollars’ worth of new locomotives and trains, and people are still dying because of train accidents.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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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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