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Australia’s opposition Labor on track to win election: polls

FILE PHOTO: Australian Labor Party opposition leader Shorten arrives at his election night party with his wife Chloe in Melbourne
FILE PHOTO: Australian Labor Party opposition leader Bill Shorten arrives at his election night party with his wife Chloe in Melbourne, July 2, 2016 on Australia's federal election day. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo

April 7, 2019

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia’s opposition Labor is the favorite to win a national election expected in May, two polls showed on Monday, but its lead has narrowed over the conservative coalition government which announced income tax cuts in its budget last week.

A closely watched Newspoll done for The Australian newspaper showed Labor ahead of the Coalition 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis, but that was down from 54-46 in the last poll in March.

A separate Ipsos poll, published by the Sydney Morning Herald, showed Labor ahead 53-47.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to call an election this week, most likely for May 11 or May 18.

“The election will be called in April and the election will be held in May. We’re not doing this with any haste and we’re not doing it with any delay,” Morrison told reporters on Sunday, amid speculation he was delaying to give the government more time to promote its budget.

“I noticed Bill Shorten’s frustration yesterday, but you know, that impatience is born of arrogance,” Morrison said.

Despite Labor’s consistent lead in the polls over the past year, Morrison remains the preferred prime minister over Labor leader Shorten.

Newspoll surveyed 1,799 voters across the country from April 4 to 6, following the release of the government’s budget on April 2 and Labor’s reply two days later.

The Ipsos poll surveyed 1,200 voters from April 3 to 6, and has a margin of error of 2.9 percent.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sonya Hepisntall)

Source: OANN

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Hillary Clinton unloads on Assange, calls him ‘only foreigner that this administration would welcome to the US’

Hillary and Bill Clinton took the stage at New York City's Beacon Theater as part of their ongoing speaking tour on Thursday, just hours after the dramatic arrest of Julian Assange -- the founder of the organization WikiLeaks that published damaging emails stolen from her campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2016.

And, while the former first lady technically made good on her promise earlier in the day not to mention President Trump by name, she made it clear while unloading on Assange that her 2016 rival was still very much on her mind.

"It's clear from the indictment that came out that it's not about punishing journalism," she told attendees and moderator Paul Begala, referring to the Assange case. "It's about assisting the hacking of the military computers, sealed information from the United States government. And, look, I'll wait and see what happens with the charges and how it proceeds, but he skipped bail in the U.K., in Sweden had those [rape] charges which have been dropped in the last several years. But, the bottom line is that he has to answer for what he's done, as has been charged."

She then added, to the apparent delight of both the audience and a guffawing Begala: "I do think it's ironic that he may be the only foreigner that this administration would welcome to the U.S."

UH-OH: GILLIBRAND CAN'T SAY IF HILLARY FORGAVE HER FOR SAYING BILL SHOULD'VE RESIGNED AMID SEX SCANDALS

The Clintons then took aim at the Electoral College, the foundational constitutional system which effectively reduces the influence of more populous -- and, generally, more liberal -- states in deciding presidential elections as compared to a popular vote system.

"Yeah, I think that every day," Hillary Clinton said, referring to how Democrats failed to win the White House despite winning the popular vote in 2000 and 2018. "The day after the election, among the many things I was doing, I was listening to the radio. They were interviewing a French political scientist who said, 'Well I do not understand, in our country the person who wins the most votes wins.' We are equally confused."

She added: "I said in 2000 I think it should be abolished. We've evolved; one person, one vote. I had no idea that 19 years later I would feel even more strongly."

Bill Clinton jumped in to note that "communications" back when the Electoral College was instituted "weren't what they are today."

"It's not like the small states would be shafted," the former president continued. "If we don't do something about this within 20 years, 70 percent of people who live in America will live in concentrated areas. The whole ground on which the electoral college was constituted no longer makes any sense."

Separately, the Clintons reacted to the news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently had won a fifth term in office.

A newly unearthed, secretive batch of classified and sensitive emails from Clinton's personal email server showed that the former secretary of state discussed establishing a "private, 100% off-the-record" back channel with Netanyahu, and that one of her top aides warned her that she was in "danger" of being "savaged by Jewish organizations, in the Jewish press and among the phalanx of neoconservative media" as a result of political machinations by "Bibi and the Jewish leadership."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waving to his supporters after polls for Israel's general elections closed in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waving to his supporters after polls for Israel's general elections closed in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Obama administration officials, including the Clintons, have long had tense relations with Netanyahu -- with The New York Times describing the situation as "poisonous" in 2015 as Clinton's second presidential bid was gearing up.

Bill Clinton also has acknowledged seeking to boost Shimon Peres over Netanyahu in Israel's 1996 general election.

"You should never underestimate him. He's highly intelligent," Bill Clinton said, referring to Netanyahu. "When we see Israeli elections, we say, 'How does this shake out for the peace process? There's lots of minority parties in Israel, and more of them aligned with the settler movement or religious fundamentalism than secularism or wanting peace."

Hillary Clinton added that she had worked closely with Netanyahu on a "range of issues."

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"There has to be some approach to reconciling the security needs of the Israelis with the need for greater autonomy and governanace by the Palestinians," Clinton said.

The Clintons' speaking tour is set to continue for several more weeks, with visits to Vancouver, Canada, as well as Philadelphia, Boston and elsewhere.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Dem rep brushes off Pelosi pushback, says he’ll pursue Trump impeachment

Outspoken Democratic Rep. Al Green is not letting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s newly announced opposition to impeachment proceedings hold him back.

Green, D-Texas, speaking with Fox News, said Tuesday that he still intends to bring articles of impeachment against President Trump to the House floor for a vote.

PELOSI SAYS SHE'S OPPOSED TO IMPEACHING TRUMP: 'HE'S JUST NOT WORTH IT'

“Each member of the House has the prerogative to bring impeachment to a vote. I intend to bring impeachment to a vote, and I will do so because the president has been acknowledged by leaders and others that he is not fit to hold the office,” Green said. “He’s causing harm to society and as such, he should be impeached.”

On the first day of the new Congress this year, Green and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., introduced articles of impeachment against the president. The pair also raised the issue in 2017 and 2018, to no avail.

“This is not about any individual. It’s about liberty and justice for all. It’s about maintaining our democracy. It’s not about Democrats, it’s about keeping the republic, and frankly, not about Republicans,” Green said Tuesday. “It’s about our country. I love my country.”

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 15: Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Texas. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 15: Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Texas. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Green’s comments follow Pelosi making her most-public attempt yet to tamp down impeachment chatter.

“I’m not for impeachment,” Pelosi told The Washington Post Magazine in an interview published Monday. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.”

She added: “And he’s just not worth it.”

Trump’s attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that Pelosi was “being realistic as to the political reaction” of impeachment.

“Maybe she doesn’t see any real evidence of anything wrongful,” Giuliani told Fox News on Tuesday.

TLAIB SAYS SHE'LL INTRODUCE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP THIS MONTH

Meanwhile, senior Democrats appeared to get in line with Pelosi on the issue -- for the time being.

“We need to have as much information as possible … the American people are going to have to decide,” House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday. “While we have impeachment authority, we have to be very cognizant of what the American people need.”

“The distraction would be major,” Hoyer said.

Even House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is leading one of several Trump-focused investigations on Capitol Hill, sided with Pelosi, calling her “absolutely right” to hold back on impeachment proceedings.

“A bipartisan process would have to be extra clear and compelling,” Schiff told reporters. “I think the speaker is absolutely right. In its absence, an impeachment [process]  becomes a partisan exercise doomed for failure. And I see little to be gained by putting the country through that kind of wrenching experience.”

But freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who has repeatedly advocated impeachment, suggested she'd continue to speak her mind on the issue.

“Speaker Pelosi has always encouraged me to represent my district, never has told me to stop,” she told reporters. “Has never told me to do anything differently. Ever.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Jared Halpern, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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3 arrested in Tulane dorm room arson fire of YAL-member students

Tulane campus police have arrested three suspects, two men and one woman, in the arson fire at the dorm room door of two university students whose personal information had been spread online revealing their participation in a libertarian youth organization.

Robert Money, 21, David Shelton, 20, and Naima Okami, 20, will be facing counts of aggravated arson, according to Blake Arcuri, the general counsel of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. It's unclear how the police identified the three individuals.

The fire reportedly happened on Saturday at 12:20 a.m., when sophomore Peyton Lofton, 20, says he received a text from his roommate and best friend, Jackson Arnold, 20, that their dorm room was on fire.

Lofton was out with friends at the time.

“It took a while for me to process last night when they said someone lit the door on fire," says Lofton. "I was originally really angry, stormed back to campus and once I got there reality started setting in. I was a little scared, a little nervous, I could have been sleeping..."

CALIFORNIA ARSON SUSPECT SOUGHT AFTER SPILLING, IGNITING FUEL AT GAS STATION, OFFICIALS SAY

Unlike Lofton, Arnold was in the room when it happened, but was not injured.

"I was in my room, and the fire alarm goes off. I go to open my door and the sign is on fire, so it was pretty small flame I blew it out and left," said Arnold. "I was feeling pretty mad, pissed off, I guess it was less of a scared feeling and more angry."

Arnold says Lofton was definitely angrier than he was, because it felt more personal for him.

It isn't clear what motivated the attack, but Lofton says it's possible the dorm room was targeted as a result of him being doxed a few days earlier for being a member of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a student political organization. Doxing is where someone posts personal information for others to find.

On March 17, the Twitter account associated with the handle, @YALexposed, posted a screenshot of his Facebook and mentioned he was a Tulane student. The screenshot read "Tulane's own Peyton Lofton seems to like YAL's offensive Facebook page."

Exposed sign and tweets from YALexposed

Exposed sign and tweets from YALexposed

Before that alleged doxxing attempt, he says signs were posted near campus, calling YAL a racist and misogynistic organization and exposing some of its members.

It's not clear yet if the three people arrested were behind the @YALexposed Twitter handle. Lofton said he's also had previous altercations with a student, but didn't want to make anyone a target until all the facts are out.

After the alleged arson attack, residents were let back in the building at 1:20 a.m. and 40 minutes later the first officer arrived on the scene.

Lofton says Detective David Harris came to their dorm around 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and informed the two he was assigned to the case. They say he took the burned sign that was previously on the door as evidence and was reviewing security footage. It's not clear if the footage he reviewed helped officers arrest the three suspects.

Lofton says the initial shock is wearing off and that his family lives 20 minutes away in case he ever feels unsafe. He says he won't back down to people trying to spread fear.

“I don’t want to let them win, so I plan on staying on campus and not backing down and work twice as hard" said Lofton. "I trust that Tulane will handle the problem; I'm not naïve and still aware of the danger and trying to be as safe as possible.”

LOUISIANA FIREFIGHTER SAVES PREGNANT WOMAN FROM BURNING VEHICLE: GOD HAS SOMETHING MAJOR FOR YOU!

Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, tweeted about the incident. Kirk told Fox it's a sick and sad day that someone would attempt an arson attack on another because of their beliefs.

"It's a traumatic thing for anyone to go through, an attempted felony arson on property," Kirk told Fox. "But he’s [Peyton] very tough and wants to have people held accountable."

An aggravated arson charge could result in up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. It's defined in Louisiana as intentionally setting a fire where it is foreseeable that human life is endangered.

There was no mention of the incident on the Tulane Police daily crime log.

Money and Shelton are students at Tulane while Okami attends Brown University, Mike Strecker, executive director of PR at Tulane, told TulaneHullabaloo.

Source: Fox News National

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In early campaigning, 2020 Democrats try out tactics for taking on Trump

Combination photo of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates
2020 Democratic presidential candidates are seen in a combination of file photos (L-R top row): U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, (L-R bottom row): U.S.Senator Kamala Harris, Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, U.S. Senator Cory Booker and Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. REUTERS/Files

March 20, 2019

By Ginger Gibson

HEMINGWAY, S.C. (Reuters) – In the most polarized political environment in decades, Democratic voters want to know how their eventual nominee will match up against President Donald Trump in the November 2020 general election.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York appears willing to go the furthest yet, at least symbolically, in trying to prove she is ready to go toe-to-toe with the president.

On Sunday, she will deliver her campaign launch speech at a rally in view of one of Trump’s hotels in New York City, taking her “vision of restoring America’s moral integrity straight to President Trump’s doorstep,” her campaign said.

The backdrop for her speech underscores a defining theme of the Democratic nominating contest. Trump is present at every campaign stop – not physically, but as a constant topic of discussion, even if his name is not uttered by those seeking to defeat him.

Candidates are trying to convince voters in early primary states that they would provide the best Trump opposition. And in a large field with few variations on policy so far, each contender is using different tactics to make their case.

“Voters need to believe that a candidate can stand on stage, take a rhetoric punch from Trump and still look strong and viable,” said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House race.

Potential and declared candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders “have likely already passed that litmus test with voters,” Payne added. “Others who are less known to the public probably still have some proving to do.”

A February poll by Emerson College found every Democratic hopeful out-performed Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup, except when a third-party candidacy was added to the equation.

At campaign events in rural South Carolina this month, Senator Kamala Harris used a simple refrain to begin answers about complicated policy questions: “We need a new president.”

Harris, a former prosecutor, is seeking to convince voters that her courtroom experience prepared her to be able to successfully “prosecute” Trump on the debate stage, a campaign aide said.

But Harris does not plan to make her case using any demeaning nicknames for Trump, something the president did during the 2016 campaign to deride his opponents.

“They don’t want someone who is going to mimic his tactics,” the aide said of Democratic voters. “Democrats want someone who can confront from him.”

VOTERS FOCUSED ON ELECTABILITY

A February poll by Monmouth University found that 56 percent of Democrats would prefer a nominee who has a good shot at defeating Trump even if they do not agree on policy positions.

The poll found women voters – who turned out in droves during the 2018 midterm elections to help send a historic number of women to Congress – were even more inclined to prioritize electability over ideology with 61 percent putting their positions aside in favor of a candidate who can defeat the president, compared to 45 percent of men.

The high level of Democrats citing electability over “kitchen table” issues like jobs and the economy was surprising to Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa.

But Hagle thinks it could be a product of the large field of Democrats, with voters looking for ways to whittle it down. Once the field narrows, policy issues such as immigration and jobs could again emerge as top concerns, he said.

“What is different this time is the intensity about wanting to defeat Trump,” Hagle said.

Even candidates who are inclined not to tussle with Trump directly still talk about him a lot.

In Mount Vernon, Iowa on Friday, Beto O’Rourke largely spoke of Trump in the context of using his campaign to try and bring people together. He criticized Trump – not using his name – for how the president talks about immigrants and Muslims.

“We’ve never been as divided as we are right now. And we’ve never seen the kind of rhetoric employed by this president in our history,” said O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman. “This is absolutely wrong. And there’s a consequence to this rhetoric and the policies employed by the president.”

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic hopeful, insists Trump can be defeated by a candidate who offers a calmer tone instead of attacks.

“I know there’s some ‘fight fire with fire’ people out there, and God bless ’em, if they become the nominee, I’m behind them,” Booker told a group of voters at a New Hampshire pub last week. “But I’m willing to die on this hill, because I believe that when we as Americans extend grace to one another, we’re not weaker, but stronger.

“My mom taught Sunday school, and she taught me to love my enemies,” Booker said. “I’m not going to let anybody drag me so low as to contort my soul and make me hate them.”

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New Hampshire and James Oliphant in Iowa; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Source: OANN

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Macron says French Islamic State detainees should be tried where they face charges

French President Emmanuel Macron meets his Iraqi counterpart Barham Salih in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, February 25, 2019. Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS

February 26, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that French Islamic state detainees in Iraq and Syria should be tried in the countries where they face charges and that France would ask for potential death penalties to be converted to life sentences.

Two Iraqi military sources told Reuters on Sunday that the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces handed over French Islamic detainees last week.

Although Macron did not comment on the handover specifically on Tuesday, he said that French citizens arrested in the region were entitled to consular assistance.

“In these instances, we ensure that their right to defend themselves is protected and that, … if they are sentenced to the death penalty, that it be converted to life imprisonment,” Macron said during a debate with mayors in Paris.

“There is, however, no return scheme in place,” he said in a reference to possible repatriations to France of detainees arrested in Iraq or Syria.

(Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; writing by Matthias Blamont ; editing by Sarah White)

Source: OANN

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Why France is analyzing Ethiopian jet's black boxes

France doesn't see an unusually large number of aviation disasters, but its plane crash investigators are world famous.

The French air accident investigation authority, known by its French acronym BEA, is now handling the analysis of the flight recorders from the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed after takeoff earlier this week, killing 157 people.

Ethiopian authorities wanted European investigators to handle the analysis because of its complexity, according to BEA spokesman Sebastien Barthe. They initially asked Germany, which said it didn't have the necessary capacity to take it on, so then the Ethiopians turned to France, Barthe told The Associated Press.

And the BEA said yes.

The French agency, based in the Paris suburb of Le Bourget, has extensive experience in investigating crashes and other incidents involving commercial flights. The BEA notably helps with investigations in countries without the resources or equipment to analyze the flight recorders, often called the black boxes.

BEA investigators are also often called upon when an Airbus plane has a problem anywhere in the world, because the aviation manufacturer is based in France. This time the plane was a Boeing, whose popular 737 Max 8 model has been grounded or barred from air space in more than 40 countries pending investigation into what caused Sunday's crash.

The BEA isn't saying how long it will take to analyze the recorders — which are actually orange, despite their nickname. One collects data such as the plane's altitude and airspeed, while the other records the sounds in the cockpit. Analysis typically takes days or weeks, depending on whether the recorders were damaged in the crash.

The French agency insists that its investigations are not aimed at assigning blame but at finding out what went wrong to make recommendations to improve air safety around the world.

Among major crash investigations the BEA has led were the 2015 plunge of a Germanwings jet — whose black boxes revealed that the co-pilot had deliberately slammed the plane into an Alpine mountainside after locking the captain out of the cockpit.

The BEA also studied the flight recorders retrieved from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean two years after the 2009 crash of Rio-Paris Air France Flight 447. The investigation determined its speed sensors had iced over, causing confusion in the cockpit.

Source: Fox News World

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

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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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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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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