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Spurs’ DeRozan ejected for firing ball toward ref

NBA: Playoffs-Denver Nuggets at San Antonio Spurs
Apr 20, 2019; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs shooting guard DeMar DeRozan (10) is held back by teammate Patty Mills (right) after being ejected for throwing the ball at referee Scott Foster (48) against the Denver Nuggets in game four of the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

April 21, 2019

San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan was ejected during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 117-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets for firing the basketball in the direction of official Scott Foster.

DeRozan was called for an offensive foul after charging into Denver guard Gary Harris with 5:01 remaining. He then leaped in the air and spun and sent the ball flying to the left of Foster.

DeRozan headed to the exits with the Spurs trailing 110-92. He scored 19 points in 34 minutes.

The series is tied 2-2 after Saturday’s result. DeRozan’s status for Game 5 is unclear as he figures to draw a fine with the possibility of a suspension.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Why Climate Alarmists Fear Debate Over Science

Why Climate Alarmists Fear Debate Over Science

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

New York I might be slightly less hostile to the Green New Deal, had I not walked home the other Sunday in a hail storm. Even before the BB-sized bits of ice came shooting down from the heavens that morning, this...

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Massive 4-day fire at Texas petrochemicals facility finally extinguished

Emergency crews in Texas on Wednesday finally extinguished a massive fire that had engulfed a petrochemicals facility for four days.

Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) spokeswoman Alice Richardson said at a news conference that investigators could now begin their probe into what the triggered the massive blaze at the facility in Deer Park, an area just southeast of Houston.

The fire was extinguished Wednesday at 3 a.m. after it had sent a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet into the air when it first began on Sunday.

‘OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE’ MAN KILLED WIFE, 3 KIDS, BEFORE SETTING FIRE TO HOME, AUTHORITIES SAY

The fire briefly flared up late Wednesday afternoon but was contained within 30 seconds by firefighters, the city of Deer Park said in a tweet.

Efforts have now shifted to concerns over air quality and the environmental impact.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted air-quality tests throughout the Houston area, both on the ground and from a small airplane, and "measured no levels of hazardous concentrations," agency official Adam Adams said.

VIETNAM VETERAN WHO SURVIVED BEING SHOT SEVEN TIMES DIES IN HOUSE FIRE

The EPA also reviewed data collected by ITC, Harris County, where Houston is located, and by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEP), which did not show hazardous concentrations of volatile organic compounds, Adams said.

The state environmental agency said in a statement Wednesday that the benzene levels it found near and around the storage facility did not pose health concerns.

Still, some people living in the area have complained of various symptoms since the fire, including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds.

Sema Hernandez, who lives in Pasadena, just west of Deer Park, said all four of her children have experienced headaches since the fire started Sunday. However, she has not been able to take them to a doctor because she doesn't have health insurance.

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"This shouldn't have happened. ... But it did. My question is, what do we do now?" Hernandez said.

The EPA and the TCEQ said they were waiting for test results of water samples to determine any potential impacts from the foam used to fight the fire on waterways next to the storage facility, including the Houston Ship Channel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Police find fentanyl lab in northern Mexico state capital

Police in northern Mexico have raided a lab producing the synthetic opioid fentanyl, the second such lab detected in Mexico in the last four months.

Police in the northern state of Sinaloa said Thursday that the lab was discovered in a house in a middle-class neighborhood of the state capital, Culiacan.

The state's assistant public safety secretary says police were patrolling in an armored truck when they came under fire. Carlos Hernandez Leyva says officers chased the assailants into the house, but they escaped through a back door.

In December, Mexican federal agents arrested four people in a raid on a fentanyl lab in Mexico City.

Much U.S. fentanyl originates in China, but is often smuggled through Mexico. Mexican cartels also produce the drug from precursor chemicals imported from China.

Source: Fox News World

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Exclusive: How Iran fuel oil exports beat U.S. sanctions in tanker odyssey to Asia

FILE PHOTO: A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf
FILE PHOTO: A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf, Iran, July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo

March 20, 2019

By Roslan Khasawneh, Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmed Elumami

SINGAPORE/BAGHDAD/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – At least two tankers have ferried Iranian fuel oil to Asia in recent months despite U.S. sanctions against such shipments, according to a Reuters analysis of ship-tracking data and port information, as well as interviews with brokers and traders.

The shipments were loaded onto tankers with documents showing the fuel oil was Iraqi. But three Iraqi oil industry sources and Prakash Vakkayil, a manager at United Arab Emirates (UAE) shipping services firm Yacht International Co, said the papers were forged.

The people said they did not know who forged the documents, nor when.

The transfers show at least some Iranian fuel oil is being traded despite the reimposition of sanctions in November 2018, as Washington seeks to pressure Iran into abandoning nuclear and missile programs. They also show how some traders have revived tactics that were used to skirt sanctions against Iran between 2012 and 2016. (https://reut.rs/2NF1fTK)

“Some buyers…will want Iranian oil regardless of U.S. strategic objectives to deny Tehran oil revenue, and Iran will find a way to keep some volumes flowing,” said Peter Kiernan, lead energy analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

While the United States has granted eight countries temporary waivers allowing limited purchases of Iranian crude oil, these exemptions do not cover products refined from crude, including fuel oil, mainly used to power the engines of large ships.

NO RECORD AT BASRA

Documents forwarded to Reuters by ship owners say a 300,000 tonne-supertanker, the Grace 1, took on fuel oil at Basra, Iraq, between Dec. 10 and 12, 2018. But Basra port loading schedules reviewed by Reuters do not list the Grace 1 as being in port during those dates.

One Iraqi industry source with knowledge of the port’s operations confirmed there were no records of the Grace 1 at Basra during this period.

Reuters examined data from four ship-tracking information providers – Refinitiv, Kpler, IHS Markit and Vessel Finder – to locate the Grace 1 during that time. All four showed that the Grace 1 had its Automatic Identification System (AIS), or transponder, switched off between Nov. 30 and Dec. 14, 2018, meaning its location could not be tracked.

The Grace 1 then re-appeared in waters near Iran’s port of Bandar Assaluyeh, fully loaded, data showed. The cargo was transferred onto two smaller ships in UAE waters in January, from where one ship delivered fuel oil to Singapore in February.

Shipping documents showed about 284,000 tonnes of fuel oil were transferred in the cargoes tracked by Reuters, worth about $120 million at current prices.

Officials at Iran’s oil ministry declined to comment.

Singapore customs did not respond to requests for comment.

The Grace 1, a Panamanian-flagged tanker, is managed by Singapore-based shipping services firm IShips Management Pte Ltd, according to data. IShips did not respond to several requests for comment via email or phone.

A Reuters reporter visited the office listed on IShips’ website but was told by the current tenant that the company had moved out two years earlier.

(MAP: Grace 1 tanker movement between Iraq, Iran and the UAE – https://tmsnrt.rs/2FkRjMK)

SHIP-TO-SHIP TRANSFERS

The ship-tracking data analyzed by Reuters showed the Grace 1 emerged from the period when it did not transmit its location almost 500 kilometers south of Iraq. It was close to the Iranian coast with its draught – how deep a vessel sits in water – near maximum, indicating its cargo tanks were filled.

The Grace 1 transferred its cargo to two smaller tankers between Jan. 16 and 22 in waters offshore Fujairah in the UAE, data showed.

One of those vessels, the 130,000 tonne-capacity Kriti Island, offloaded fuel oil into a storage terminal in Singapore around Feb. 5 to 7. Reuters was unable to determine who purchased the fuel oil for storage in Singapore.

The Kriti Island is managed by Greece’s Avin International SA.

The tanker was chartered by Singapore-based Blutide Pte Ltd for its voyage to Singapore, Avin International’s Chief Executive Officer George Mylonas told Reuters. Mylonas confirmed the Kriti Island took on fuel oil from the Grace 1.

There is no indication that Avin International knowingly shipped Iranian fuel oil. Mylonas said his firm had conducted all necessary due diligence to ensure the cargo’s legitimate origin.

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

Mylonas emailed Reuters a copy of a Certificate of Origin (COO) that he said was provided by the charterers – referring to Blutide – showing the Grace 1 loaded fuel oil at Basra on Dec. 10 and 12, 2018.

“The Certificate of Origin and all the information obtained did not reveal any connection with Iran, let alone that the cargo of fuel oil originated” from there, Mylonas wrote.

Mylonas said the Grace 1’s owners, managers, shippers, receivers and charterers were screened by Avin International. “There were not circumstances that would make the COO of dubious origin,” he said via email.

He said he had been told by the charterers that the Grace 1 only stopped in waters off Iran in late December and early January for “repairs of damaged diesel generators” before sailing to Fujairah.

The document provided by Mylonas says Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO certified the Grace 1 in December loaded a total of 284,261 tonnes of Iraqi fuel oil.

Reuters shared the document with a SOMO official in Iraq who said it was “faked” and “completely wrong”. The official declined to be identified by name, citing the marketer’s communications policy.

Two other Iraqi oil industry sources with direct knowledge of Basra port and oil industry operations also said the documentation was forged.

The two sources said the document bore the signature of a manager who was not working at Basra port on the stated dates. The document also bears contradictory dates: It indicates a loading period of Dec. 10 and 12, 2018 but a sign-off date for the transaction of Jan. 12, 2018.

‘CONSIDER TO BE FORGED’

Data showed the second tanker into which the Grace 1 transferred cargo was the Marshal Z, also a 130,000-tonne vessel.

It was bound for Singapore in the first half of February but changed course on Feb. 15, parking off western Malaysia. Reuters was unable to determine who owns the Marshal Z, nor who chartered it.

Around Feb. 25, the Marshal Z transferred its cargo to another vessel called the Libya, owned and managed by Tripoli-based General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC).

A GNMTC spokesman said the Libya was chartered by Blutide, the same Singapore firm that chartered the Kriti Island.

    Blutide registered as a company in Singapore on May 14, 2018. Its sole listed shareholder and only director, Singaporean Basheer Sayeed, said by telephone on Feb. 7 he was retired and not in a position to comment on the company’s activity.

The Libya’s owner GNMTC “was not aware, at any stage that the cargo is linked in any way to Iran,” the company’s spokesman said via email.

GNMTC provided Reuters with a copy of a COO that it said was issued by shipping services company Yacht International, based in Fujairah, showing the Marshal Z loaded Iraqi-origin fuel oil during a ship-to-ship transfer in UAE waters on Jan. 23.

However, Yacht International shipping manager Prakash Vakkayil said in an email his firm did not issue the certificate and “considers it to be forged”.

The GNMTC spokesman did not respond to follow-up questions from Reuters.

    As of March 20, data showed the Libya was located alongside the Marshal Z offshore western Malaysia, the position vessels typically adopt for ship-to-ship transfers.

Reuters could not immediately determine whether the fuel oil cargo the Libya had been carrying was still aboard the ship.

(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh in SINGAPORE, Ahmed Rasheed in BAGHDAD and Ahmed Elumami in TRIPOLI; Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in LONDON and Parisa Hafezi in DUBAI; Editing by Henning Gloystein, Christian Schmollinger and Kenneth Maxwell)

Source: OANN

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What to Do With Anthems of America’s Racist Past?

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The Yankees have cut Kate Smith. She was once an immensely popular singer who premiered "God Bless America" on her radio show in 1938. The song quickly became iconic and, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it became a staple of the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately for Smith's legacy, she also recorded two racist ditties -- "Pickaninny Heaven" and "That's Why Darkies Were Born." When this was recently re-discovered, Smith was sent down to the minors.

The Yankees moved with commendable alacrity -- as did the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. Neither team bothered to say if Smith was indeed a racist or had merely recorded the songs of the times. That these songs are insultingly racist is beyond question but so, for that matter, was much of popular culture before the civil rights era. "Pickaninny" was featured in a 1933 film, and "That's Why Darkies Were Born" comes from the same age. Its lyrics make blackface seem downright woke.

"Someone had to pick the cotton/ Someone had to plant the corn/ Someone had to slave and be able to sing/ That's why darkies were born."

These episodes of recovered racism are useful. They are reminders of how indelibly racist America once was -- a culture that not only embraced (or forgave) the Jim Crow fascism of the South but managed in song and film to regularly insult African Americans and demean them as somehow less than fully human. A mere song can alert you to how life was for a black person. A person could pass an open window and hear a radio playing a racist insult.

But if Smith can be condemned on the basis of two songs, what are we to make of Paul Robeson, truly a black superhero before his time? He was a star college football player, gifted student, powerful singer, commanding actor ("Show Boat," "Othello") and, to the end of his days, a radical and fiery civil rights activist. He, too, recorded "That's Why Darkies Were Born." Possibly, his take was ironic. To my ears, Robeson's version is just overwhelmingly sad.

And what about Frank Sinatra? Ol' Blue Eyes was a walking compendium of faults -- violent, obscene, misogynistic and mobbed up -- but he was no racist. He supported liberal causes and befriended Sammy Davis Jr. when it was not easy to do so -- especially after Davis married May Britt, known in tabloidese as the blonde, Swedish bombshell.

Sinatra recorded the evocative standard "Without a Song" in 1941 using the original racist lyric -- "a darkie's born, but he's no good no how, without a song." He did that once, but never again. In later recordings, the obnoxious word is gone. Should Sinatra be banned?

Our national yesterday is horrendously racist. The more we excavate the past, the more shocked we become. We want to eradicate the blemishes and topple the statues and monuments to what, after all, was evil. It is right that we do not honor slavers and their defenders. We cannot enslave the present by forcing it to honor the dishonorable past.

But some perspective is in order. Kate Smith did not write the racist songs she sang. And while in her later years she came to represent right-wing reaction -- she lent herself on July 4, 1970, to a rally that supported the Vietnam War -- she is at least once removed when it comes to racism. Indeed, the Yankees themselves are hardly without fault in this area. It took the team eight years after Jackie Robinson broke into the major leagues in 1947 for them to field Elston Howard. By then, 12 teams had already signed blacks.

Time writes and rewrites history. "God Bless America" was once denounced by the Ku Klux Klan because it was written by Irving Berlin, an immigrant Jew infatuated by his adopted country. It then transmuted into a right-wing anthem, especially after Woody Guthrie, sick of hearing Smith sing it on the radio, countered with the Depression-era "This Land is Your Land." Now, it is merely a great song, blanched by time of political meaning -- the stirring patriotic response to the murders of Sept. 11, 2001.

At Yankee Stadium, Smith is gone. She was last seen by me singing "God Bless America" at that 1970 rally. As she sang, large numbers of anti-war protesters waded through the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, smoking dope and hurling f-bombs her way. In one ear, I heard Smith singing and in the other the proper profanity of a pissed-off generation. It was an extremely American afternoon.

God bless America.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

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NHL roundup: Flames clinch division, conference titles

NHL: Calgary Flames at San Jose Sharks
Mar 31, 2019; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Micheal Haley (18) and San Jose Sharks right wing Joonas Donskoi (27) and Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson (4) and teammates fight during the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

April 1, 2019

Three goals 75 seconds apart in the first period vaulted the Calgary Flames to a 5-3 victory over the host San Jose Sharks Sunday night, earning them their Pacific Division title since the 2005-06 season and the top spot in the Western Conference for the first time in 29 years.

Mike Smith needed to make just 12 saves for the Flames (49-23-7, 105 points), who will face the second wild-card winner — a spot currently occupied by the Colorado Avalanche but well within reach of the Arizona Coyotes — in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

San Jose (44-26-9, 97 points) will finish second in the Pacific and will meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the opening round. The Sharks, who beat Vegas in an emotional game Saturday night, have just one win in nine games (1-7-1).

With the Flames trailing 1-0, Sean Monahan, Mark Jankowski and Dalton Prout completed the 75-second scoring spree. Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary, and Timo Maier, Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc tallied for San Jose.

Red Wings 6, Bruins 3

Anthony Mantha recorded his first career hat trick and five-point game, and host Detroit scored four times in the third period to defeat Boston.

Mantha scored Detroit’s first three goals and assisted on the final two as Red Wings won their fifth straight game. Taro Hirose scored his first NHL goal, Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi notched three assists for the Red Wings.

Jimmy Howard made 31 saves to win his fourth straight decision, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 shots for Boston, which got goals from Jake DeBrusk, Brad Marchand, and David Backes.

Coyotes 4, Wild 0

Darcy Kuemper made 39 saves to record his second shutout in three starts, and Josh Archibald had two goals and an assist as Arizona downed Minnesota in Glendale, Ariz.

Alex Galchenyuk scored his team-leading 18th goal and Vinnie Hinostroza added a second empty-net tally for the Coyotes (38-33-8, 84 points), who moved within one point of Colorado for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Devan Dubnyk finished with 19 saves for Minnesota (36-34-9, 81 points), which has dropped eight of its last 11 contests (3-7-1) and sits four points behind the Avalanche with three games remaining.

Blue Jackets 4, Sabres 0

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 38 shots for his league-leading ninth shutout of the season as Columbus defeated host Buffalo.

It was the 36th victory of the season for Bobrovsky, putting him one behind league leader Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay. The Blue Jackets sit in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Carolina and two points up on Montreal.

Pierre Luc-Dubois, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won five straight games. Linus Ullmark stopped 32 of 36 shots as the Sabres lost their seventh game in a row.

Penguins 3, Hurricanes 1

Pittsburgh’s fourth line combined for five points as host Pittsburgh topped Metropolitan Division rival Carolina.

Matt Cullen had a goal and an assist, Adam Johnson had two assists for his first two NHL points, and Garrett Wilson and Patric Hornqvist also scored for Pittsburgh, which has won four of its past five games.

Goaltender Matt Murray stopped 37 of 38 Hurricanes shots. The Penguins (43-25-11, 97 points) moved to within two points of the idle second-place New York Islanders in the division. A win would have tied Carolina (43-29-7, 93 points) with the Penguins in points with 95 and leapfrogged it into third place in the division based on tiebreakers.

Rangers 3, Flyers 0

Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves to record his second career shutout as New York averted a season sweep at the hands of host Philadelphia.

Ryan Strome collected a goal and an assist, Pavel Buchnevich scored to reach the 20-goal plateau and defenseman Brady Skjei also tallied as the Rangers snapped a six-game skid versus Philadelphia.

Georgiev extended his right pad to deny James van Riemsdyk on a breakaway late in the second period to preserve New York’s 2-0 lead. Rookie Carter Hart finished with 22 saves for the Flyers, who have dropped seven of their last 10 games.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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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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