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Late Brazil cane harvest may catch sugar traders off-guard

A combine harvester cuts sugar cane in a field at the Sao Martinho sugar mill in Pradopolis
FILE PHOTO: A combine harvester cuts sugar cane in a field at the Sao Martinho sugar mill in Pradopolis, Brazil September 13, 2018. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

March 26, 2019

By Marcelo Teixeira

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A likely delay in the start of Brazil’s center-south cane harvest may catch some New York sugar futures players on the wrong foot, forcing those operators to cover positions, according to analysts and commodity traders.

Although Brazil’s 2019/20 center-south cane crop officially starts in April, many mills begin crushing earlier if their cane is ready. However, fields this year are developing late, after a dry spell in December and January, followed by ample March rain.

The late rainfall may lead some mills to hold off crushing to let the cane turn that moisture into better agricultural yields.

“If that happens, we will see traders running to deal with that lack of available sugar,” said Arnaldo Corrêa, a sugar industry analyst at Archer Consulting.

Last Friday, U.S. government data showed speculators had reduced their net short position in raw sugar on the ICE futures exchange, surprising many in the market.

Brazil is a big swing factor in the global sugar market due to the flexibility of its mills, which manage to go quicker or slower on processing, or direct more cane to ethanol versus sugar production, depending on prices.

“If there is a delay in crushing, then the supply of raw sugar that can be tendered against the May futures may be severely restricted,” an analyst at a large European trading house told Reuters.

“There will be a lot of debate about specifically how much cane will be crushed in the second half of March and in April,” said the analyst, requesting anonymity to speak openly.

The start to Brazil’s cane harvest has varied dramatically in recent years. In 2016, Brazilian mills crushed 80 million tonnes from mid-March to the end of April, but the crush in the same period of 2017 fell below 50 million tonnes.

Last year Brazil’s center-south crushed 67.7 million tonnes in that six-week stretch, producing 2.41 million tonnes of sugar. Analysts are forecasting less this year.

Datagro, a leading sugar and ethanol consultancy in Brazil, sees most mills pushing their first crush back by two weeks due to high ethanol inventories and slow cane development.

Brazilian cane industry group Unica said on Tuesday that just 27 center-south mills were operating in the first half of March, down from 50 at the same time last year.

If processing continues to lag, mills and traders that have already sold sugar in New York might roll their positions to July instead of delivering the sugar. That could leave buyers scrambling to find new supplies.

To be sure, a sunny forecast for early April in center-south Brazil could help to jumpstart crushing season, bringing sugar to the market as expected.

Dib Nunes, a Brazilian cane expert, said major cane areas near Presidente Prudente and Araçatuba are likely to see delays, but other parts of Sao Paulo state may not.

Not all of Brazil’s cash-strapped mills can afford to wait.

“A potential delay would be 15 or 20 days maximum, not more, because many mills also need to make cash,” he said.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Brad Haynes and Susan Thomas)

Source: OANN

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Judge considers whether terror watchlist is unconstitutional

A federal judge says he will rule in the near future on the constitutionality of a government watchlist that includes more than 1 million people the FBI considers to be "known or suspected terrorists."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations sued in 2016 to challenge the watchlist on behalf of Muslim Americans who say they were wrongly placed on it and suffered negative consequences as a result.

The plaintiffs argued Thursday at a hearing in Alexandria that the list is disseminated so broadly that those listed face not only travel woes at airports and border crossings but also difficulty completing financial transactions and interacting with police. They also say the standard for inclusion is overbroad and innocent Muslims are routinely listed by mistake.

Government lawyers say the list is a necessary tool to fight terrorism and that plaintiffs exaggerate the consequences of inclusion.

The watchlist, also known as the Terrorist Screening Database, is maintained by the FBI and shared with a variety of federal agencies. Customs officers have access to the list to check people coming into the country at border crossings, and aviation officials use the database to help form the government's no-fly list.

The watchlist has grown significantly in size over the years. As of June 2017, approximately 1.16 million people were included on the watchlist, according to government documents filed in the lawsuit. In 2013, the number was only 680,000. The vast majority are foreigners, but according to the government, there are roughly 4,600 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents on the watchlist as well as of 2017.

CAIR lawyer Gadeir Abbas said the intrusions imposed on those listed are all for naught; he argued that the list is worthless in terms of preventing terrorism. He noted that Omar Mateen, the man who shot and killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016, was at one time on the list but was later removed from it. Others who have committed terrorist acts have never even been included on the watchlist.

"The government cannot know who among the innocent will become a terrorist in the future," Abbas said. Because the government has no good standard for inclusion on the list, it falls back to stereotypes and routinely imposes the burden of watchlisting on innocent Muslims.

Justice department lawyer Amy Powell disputed Abbas' analysis and said it's impossible to know what types of terrorist attacks might have been foiled by placing those on the watchlist under greater scrutiny.

She also said that some of the consequences described by plaintiffs in the case, including being handcuffed at border crossings in front of family and having police approach them with guns drawn, may be frightening but are not so serious as to merit judicial intervention.

She said border agents have the right to take precautions when presented with a potential danger because "they have no idea what's coming over the border."

One of the plaintiffs, Hassan Shibly, who works in CAIR's Florida chapter, said he has been searched dozens of times because of his watchlist status and was once handcuffed in front of his grandmother at a border crossing in Detroit.

"It's humiliating," he said. "The government lawyers could never make the arguments they made in court today if they had personally faced the same treatment we've faced," Shibly said after the hearing.

The plaintiffs have alleged that the watchlist intrudes on many aspects of life beyond the ability to travel. Some Muslims have said they believe that financial transactions and interactions with law enforcement have been tainted because the government disseminates the list so broadly.

The case has revealed that the list goes not only to approximately 18,000 state and local law-enforcement agencies, but hundreds of private entities that are deemed "law enforcement adjacent" by the federal government also receive the list. Lawyers with CAIR say the government has interpreted it so broadly that animal shelters and churches have been given access. Government lawyers have responded that these animal shelters have police powers, and the churches are police forces at private schools run by religious organizations.

As for financial transactions, though, the evidence is murkier. The government has been adamant that banks and financial institutions do not get access to the list.

When the lawsuit was first filed, it included an allegation that one person believed to be on the watchlist was denied an opportunity test drive a car after a salesman ran his driver's license before turning over the keys, and came back to report that the man's license showed up on the terrorist watchlist. It turned out that the problem was caused because his name was similar to one on an entirely different list, maintained by the Treasury' Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The government does not confirm whether an individual has been placed on the watchlist, and its secrecy leaves people to wonder whether any unusual interaction was caused by the watchlist. One plaintiff, Hassan Fares, described difficulty opening a bank account, and not knowing whether the problems stemmed for watchlist placement or not.

"It's difficult to determine whether it's random or whether it's connection to something else," he said. "Suspicion just leads to paranoia."

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga said after the hearing that he would issue a written ruling at a later date.

Source: Fox News National

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Golf: Holder Casey and American Cook share Valspar lead

PGA: Valspar Championship - Second Round
Mar 22, 2019; Palm Harbor, FL, USA; Paul Casey plays his shot from the 15th tee during the second round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament at Innisbrook Resort - Copperhead Course. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

March 22, 2019

(Reuters) – Early starters Paul Casey and Austin Cook survived after a costly finish by one-time leader Luke Donald to earn a one-stroke advantage in Florida’s Valspar Championship on Friday.

Englishman Casey, the defending champion, shot 66 and American Cook 67 to hold onto the joint lead on six-under 136 after the second round at Palm Harbor, Florida.

Donald, who played behind compatriot Casey and Cook, had taken a one-shot lead with four holes to play but two bogeys coming home left him in a three-way tie for third after a scrambling one-under 70.

Level with the former world number one at 137 were American Scott Stallings (68) and South Korea’s Im Sung-jae (67).

Lurking another shot back was top-ranked Dustin Johnson, whose second consecutive 69 left the American in a three-way tie for sixth with Australian Curtis Luck (68) and first-round co-leader Joel Dahmen (72).

Casey put together an eagle, four birdies and a bogey at his last hole, the ninth, before the Florida breezes kicked up and the greens became more tricky.

“I’ve never (successfully) defended a professional event,” he told Golf Channel.

“I think mentally last year I was sort of hoping, obviously hoping, I would win, wanting to win. This year, knowing that I have won around here, I have just a slightly different approach to it.”

Cook turned to a new putter and liked the results as he recorded five birdies and a bogey.

“Something as simple as changing a putter can make a big difference sometimes,” he told PGA Tour Radio.

Scot Russell Knox, tied for third after the first round, barely made the cut after soaring from a 67 on Thursday to a 76 in windy conditions on Friday.

Australian Jason Day did fall over the cut line of plus one as the world number 12’s 71 was not enough to overcome an opening 74 as he ended play at three-over par.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Source: OANN

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China protests US criticism of policies on religion

China has issued a protest over remarks the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom made criticizing Beijing's polices toward Muslim and Tibetan Buddhist minorities.

The foreign ministry's office in Hong Kong said a speech Sam Brownback gave Saturday "slandered" China's religious policies. It said it had registered its dissatisfaction with the U.S. Consulate in the semi-autonomous Chinese region, where the speech was given.

U.S. officials and UN experts say China is believed to be holding 1 million Uighurs, Muslims and members of other majority Muslim ethnic groups in political education camps in Xinjiang.

The government says those camps are vocational training centers designed to rid the region of extremism.

Brownback said China's government "is at war with faith," and called for the release of those being held over religion.

Source: Fox News World

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Bernie Sanders Spokesperson Apologizes For Israel Comments

The national deputy press secretary for the 2020 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is apologizing after she made disparaging comments on social media about Israel.

According to Politico, Belén Sisa said she regrets asking whether the "American-Jewish community has a dual allegiance to the state of Israel."

"In a conversation on Facebook, I used some language that I see now was insensitive. Issues of allegiance and loyalty to one's country come with painful history," Sisa said.

"At a time when so many communities in our country feel under attack by the president and his allies, I absolutely recognize that we need to address these issues with greater care and sensitivity to their historical resonance, and I'm committed to doing that in the future."

Sisa was referencing an online discussion that took place Sunday night, during which she also pledged her support of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has come under fire for making statements considered to be anti-Semitic.

When asked if the question could be applicable to Sanders, Sisa wrote, "I think I would probably have to ask him? But his comments make me believe otherwise as he has been very blunt on where he stands."

And last month, according to The Washington Free Beacon, Sisa shared an article on Facebook that drew parallels between Democrats and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Republicans and the National Rifle Association.

It was reported last week, meanwhile, that two other members of Sanders' staff have been implicated in an anti-Semitism scandal.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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TX Governor Ready To Defend Border If Trump Won’t

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Teenager arrested in 2 deaths at eastern Wisconsin home

Police have arrested a high school junior in the killing of two people at a home in eastern Wisconsin.

Grand Chute police officers found the victims at the house in Grand Chute during a welfare check Sunday morning. The 17-year-old boy was arrested at the home.

The teen is being held in the Outagamie County Jail on possible charges of first-degree intentional homicide.

Authorities have not released the names of the victims, but police said in a news release that the Neenah High School student knew them. No information has been released about how they died.

Grand Chute police say investigations are ongoing but that they believe the killings were "an isolated incident, with no danger to the public."

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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