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Mueller navigates dangerous currents in probing Trump-Russia nexus

FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Mueller testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill
FILE PHOTO: Robert Mueller, as FBI director, testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sept. 16, 2009. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

March 11, 2019

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Robert Mueller brought an enviable reputation as the architect of the modern FBI and a force behind major criminal prosecutions to his job as special counsel investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election but has encountered a relentless campaign by President Donald Trump to discredit the probe.

Mueller, a longtime Republican, received bipartisan praise when he was named as special counsel in May 2017 to take over the Russia investigation after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, whose agency had led the probe.

Trump and allies in the Republican Party and conservative media have sought to disparage Mueller, a 74-year-old former U.S. Marine Corps officer, and paint the entire Russia investigation as illegitimate and politically motivated.

Mueller, known for a tough, no-nonsense managerial style, has remained silent throughout the investigation that threatens Trump’s presidency, letting his team’s court filings and indictments do the talking. Several Trump aides and advisers already have been convicted or pleaded guilty as a result of the investigation.

The big question is whether Mueller will present evidence of criminal conduct by the president himself. Such findings could prompt the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to begin the impeachment process laid out in the Constitution for removing a president from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Mueller was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001 and, after unanimous Senate confirmation, started the job a week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by al Qaeda militants using hijacked airliners that killed about 3,000 people.

Democratic President Barack Obama extended Mueller’s service. By the time Mueller left the position in 2013, his tenure was exceeded in length only by J. Edgar Hoover’s 48-year stint.

Mueller was credited with transforming the premier U.S. law enforcement agency after Congress and an independent government commission found that the FBI and CIA had failed to share information before the Sept. 11 attacks that could have helped prevent them. Mueller revamped the FBI into an agency centered on protecting national security in addition to law enforcement, putting more resources into counterterrorism investigations and improving cooperation with other U.S. agencies.

He put his career on the line in 2004 when he and Comey, then the deputy attorney general, threatened to resign when White House officials sought to reauthorize a domestic eavesdropping program that the Justice Department had deemed unconstitutional.

The two rushed to a Washington hospital room and prevented top Bush aides from persuading an ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft, recovering from gall bladder surgery, to reauthorize the surveillance program.

Comey succeeded Mueller as FBI director in 2013.

‘HIGH IDEALS’

In nominating Mueller in 2001, Bush said, “As a lawyer, prosecutor and government official, he has shown high ideals, a clear sense of purpose and a tested devotion to his country.”

When Mueller stepped down as FBI chief, Obama called him “one of the most admired public servants of our time,” adding, “I know very few people in public life who have shown more integrity more consistently under more pressure than Bob Mueller.”

Trump has given a darker assessment, accusing Mueller of pursuing a “rigged witch hunt” while declining to sit for an interview with the special counsel’s team.

The president in November 2018 wrote on Twitter: “Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue. The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. … Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his terrible Gang of Angry Democrats.”

He also has faulted Mueller for not investigating Hillary Clinton, the defeated 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.

Trump’s attacks on Mueller appeal to his conservative political base as shown when he won cheers denigrating the special counsel during a March 2 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.

After graduating from Princeton University, Mueller served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, leading a rifle platoon and receiving commendations including the Bronze Star.

He became a U.S. assistant attorney general in 1991 and was a key player on high-profile federal prosecutions such as the 1992 convictions of former Panamanian leader Manuel Antonio Noriega and organized crime boss John Gotti and the investigation into the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Mueller’s investigation has resulted in charges against 34 people and three Russian entities. Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted on a series of charges and pleaded guilty to others. Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos have entered guilty pleads. Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges.

After months of negotiations about a presidential interview with the special counsel’s team, Mueller let Trump give written responses to questions about whether his campaign conspired with what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as Russian hacking and propaganda aimed at causing division in the United States and boosting Trump’s candidacy. Trump provided the written answers in November 2018.

During his career Mueller had stints in private law practice but preferred government work. In the 1990s, he left a major law firm to take a low-level job in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, specializing in homicide cases at a time when the capital city had a high murder rate.

“I’ve always loved investigations,” Mueller told Washingtonian magazine in 2008.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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Rights group faults treatment of Lebanese held in UAE

Human Rights Watch says eight Lebanese men charged with links to the Hezbollah militant group are being poorly treated and held in undisclosed locations in the United Arab Emirates.

The rights group said Monday the trial of the eight men, all Shiite Muslims and long-time residents, has been marred with violations and irregularities, including brief hearings closed to the public and lack of access to defense lawyers.

They are expected to appear in court Wednesday. Local media reported they are likely to face new charges.

The men were detained more than a year ago, but were only charged last month. They are accused of setting up a "terrorist cell with links to Hezbollah in Lebanon." The men deny the charges.

HRW says they are being held in solitary confinement.

Source: Fox News World

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Iran media: 10 people die from drinking tainted alcohol

Iran's state-run news agency says 10 people have died from tainted alcohol in northwestern Azarbaijan province while 240 were hospitalized.

IRNA says the alcohol poisoning took place over the past six weeks in the city of Tabriz.

Hodjat Pourfathi, an official with the Health Ministry, is quoted as saying three of the victims were blinded and several were in a coma. He says the fatalities are likely to rise.

IRNA reported 31 deaths from tainted alcohol last October, most of them in southern Hormozgan province.

At the time, the agency said that as the nation's currency plummets against the dollar and the price of liquor rises, consumers increasingly turn to home-made alcohol.

In Iran, drinking alcohol is considered sinful and punishable by flogging and cash fines under Islamic law.

Source: Fox News World

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Algeria orders early university holiday as students spur protests

A woman protests against Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in Algiers
A woman protests against Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in Algiers, Algeria March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

March 9, 2019

By Hamid Ould Ahmed and Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian authorities on Saturday ordered an early start to the spring university holiday, an apparent attempt to weaken two weeks of student-led protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The Higher Education Ministry’s decision came a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators packed central Algiers to challenge the veteran leader’s 20-year-old rule in the biggest protests in the capital in 28 years.

Without giving a reason for the move, the Ministry said in a decree that the spring break would be brought forward by 10 days, starting on Sunday instead of March 20.

Algerians desperate for jobs and angry at unemployment, corruption and an elderly elite seen as out of touch with the young have taken to the streets since Feb. 22 to protest the 82-year-old’s plans to seek a fifth term in an April 18 election.

Many of the demonstrations — the largest since 1991 when the army canceled elections Islamists were poised to win — started at university premises before spilling out onto the streets.

The ailing Bouteflika is in hospital in Geneva and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.

On Thursday he issued his first warning to protesters, saying the unrest, now entering its third week, could create chaos in the oil- and natural gas-producing North African country.

Bouteflika has offered to limit his term after the election and has vowed to change the “system” that runs the country, but the protest movement has galvanized discontent among different sectors, particularly students and young families.

Some long-time allies of Bouteflika, including members of the ruling party, have expressed support for the protesters, revealing cracks within a ruling elite long seen as invincible.

Friday’s protests were largely peaceful but some clashes between youths and police broke out in the evening and state media said 110 protesters and 112 policemen had been hurt in the unrest.

(Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Helen Popper)

Source: OANN

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Power pole impales SUV in Washington state on video, 2 in vehicle survive

Dramatic footage showed the moment a power pole pierced an SUV over the weekend in Washington state -- but the couple inside survived the harrowing incident.

Tukwila Police released footage Tuesday that showed the moment when Tom and Linda Cook’s Ford Edge was struck by the wooden utility pole with live wires.

Police responded to the emergency call Friday at around 3:50 p.m. that the vehicle was struck by a powerline. First responders had to wait about an hour to pull the Cooks from the SUV because they had to wait for the power to be turned off.

FLORIDA KEYS BRIEFLY WITHOUT POWER AFTER SAILBOAT HITS POWER LINE, OFFICIALS SAY

“Just by looking at the damage to the vehicle on scene, it appeared that the injuries would be serious and or even fatal,” Tukwila Police said in a statement.

"Seeing the photos of the vehicle, if I had seen those photos as a bystander or after the fact and I looked at the photos, I would have said somebody died in the car," Tom Cook told KOMO-TV.

Two people were trapped in the SUV for about an hour after several power poles came crashing down on East Marginal Way on Friday, according to Tukwila police. (Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times via AP)

Two people were trapped in the SUV for about an hour after several power poles came crashing down on East Marginal Way on Friday, according to Tukwila police. (Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times via AP)

“The firefighters said... had it hit to the left or the right, it would have come down on one of us."

The two were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were treated for minor cuts and bruises and released that same night.

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Seattle City Light later revealed that 26 utility poles came down on Friday, affecting approximately 16,500 people. Those poles had last been inspected in 2016 and none were identified as “posing a public safety hazard” at the time.

The company has hired a third party to conduct an independent investigation.

Source: Fox News National

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New York City firefighters share memories of fallen Marine Christopher Slutman

Two New York City firefighters remembered their colleague Christopher Slutman, who was one of three U.S. Marines killed his week in Afghanistan, as selfless and devoted to his family and country.

Appearing on “Fox & Friends,” New York City firefighters Bobby Eustace and Gerard Fitzgerald said Slutman, who was 43, was committed to serving both as a city emergency responder and as a Marine.

Slutman, a 15-year FDNY member, was killed by a roadside bomb Monday. He leaves behind his wife, Shannon, and three daughters.

“He was a great man, a man of integrity,” Eustace said. “He was what every man should aspire to be…He put the maximum effort in everything he did.”

Slutman was honored five years ago for rescuing a woman from a burning high-rise while serving with the Fire Department of New York, the city’s mayor and fire commissioner said on Tuesday. In 2014, Slutman received a medal for pulling an unconscious woman from a high-rise apartment fire in the Bronx.

3 MARINES KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN ID'D, INCLUDED FDNY FIREFIGHTER

New York firefighter Christopher Slutman, a 15-year member of the Fire Dept. of New York, was among three American service members killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Monday.

New York firefighter Christopher Slutman, a 15-year member of the Fire Dept. of New York, was among three American service members killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Monday. (Fire Department of New York via AP)

MAINE FIRE CHIEF DIES AFTER SUFFERING MEDICAL EPISODE WHILE ATTENDING FIREFIGHTER'S FUNERAL

Slutman and fellow firefighters “forced open the door to the fire apartment and were met with a high heat condition and dense, black smoke, from floor to ceiling,” the department said when his medal was awarded. They crawled along the apartment floor, and Slutman found the woman in a bedroom. He and another firefighter “dragged the woman past the fire” to emergency medical workers.

Slutman saved the woman “at peril to himself,” a battalion chief wrote in endorsing his honor.

Slutman was the fourth FDNY member to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003, the city said. The Pentagon identified the two other Marines killed as Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York, and Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania.

“He protected his family, protected his country and protected the great city of New York,” Eustace said. “And, you know, he loved [his family] dearly. He spent as much time as he possibly could with them. He worked as hard as he possibly could to spend as much time and provide as much as he could for them.”

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“He was a passionate man, a humble man, he was a go-do-your-job kind of man.”

Monday’s U.S. fatalities bring to seven the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America’s longest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Upstart party turns cannabis into key Israeli election issue

The Cinderella story of Israel's current election campaign is a fringe party led by an ultranationalist libertarian with a criminal record who vows to legalize marijuana, and seems to diverge dramatically from the long list of quirky candidates of the past who have drawn attention to their improbable runs for parliament.

For starters, Moshe Feiglin's Zehut party has a real shot of getting elected and could even emerge as a kingmaker in a tightly contested race for prime minister.

But his seemingly liberal civic platform, which has generated a strong hipster following, could be masking a far more polarizing agenda. The political manifesto of his Zehut — Hebrew for identity — party includes canceling signed agreements with the Palestinians and making Israeli Arab citizens pass a loyalty test.

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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