Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

The Latest: Migrants gather in Greece for Balkan crossing

The Latest on migrants and asylum-seekers in Europe (all times local):

5:25 p.m.

Hundreds of migrants are gathering outside a camp near the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, planning a long trek through heavily guarded Balkan borders to seek asylum in Europe's prosperous heartland.

Police said more than 500 people, including families with small children, gathered Thursday in a cornfield outside the Diavata migrant camp, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Thessaloniki, some setting up tents. Dozens more were approaching on foot.

Migrants said they were responding to an anonymous call on social media to go to Greece's border with North Macedonia 60 kilometers (38 miles) away and push through, reviving a migration route that was firmly shut down in 2016.

The United Nations refugee agency has warned migrants against the social media calls, saying irregular border crossings are "risky and dangerous."

___

12 noon

A humanitarian ship with 64 rescued migrants aboard is stuck at sea as Italy and Malta refuse it safe harbor.

Their refusal sets the stage for another Mediterranean standoff that can only be resolved if European governments agree to accept the asylum-seekers.

Carlotta Weibl, spokeswoman for the German humanitarian organization Sea-Eye, said Thursday that the ship was near the Italian island of Lampedusa: "Malta says we can't enter their waters and we are unlikely to get permission from Italy."

Sea-Eye's ship, the Alan Kurdi, rescued the migrants on Wednesday near Libya.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the German ship should "go to Hamburg."

But Weibl said "it's a journey of 3-4 weeks. We don't have food and water, so it's completely out of question."

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Compromise could win over GOP senators opposing Trump order

The White House and Republican senators sought compromise on limiting presidents' powers to unilaterally declare national emergencies, as chances improved that President Donald Trump might avoid a long-expected rejection by Congress of his effort to divert billions more for building barriers along the Mexican border.

As a Thursday showdown vote in the Senate neared, GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and others were talking with the White House about related legislation that would curb the ability of presidents to declare national emergencies. If Trump would commit to signing a bill handcuffing future emergency declarations, more GOP senators might support his border emergency declaration in Thursday's crucial vote.

Lee and Tillis were among five GOP senators who met privately Tuesday at the Capitol with Vice President Mike Pence as Republicans sought a way to bolster support for Trump. Since the Democratic-run House voted last month to block Trump, Senate passage of the resolution rejecting the border emergency would send it to the White House, where it would face a certain veto — Trump's first.

By late Tuesday, there were indications that GOP opposition to Trump's emergency along the Mexican border was softening. If it stands, the declaration would let Trump divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to build border barriers, even though Congress had voted to limit him to less than $1.4 billion for barrier construction in the budget.

Tillis is among four Senate Republicans who have said they'd vote with Democrats to oppose Trump's border emergency. At a closed-door lunch Tuesday, Tillis suggested he could be open to backing the president, said two people familiar with his comments. One said Tillis told his colleagues he could change his vote if Trump was indeed ready to curb presidential powers to declare emergencies without Congress' approval.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal private conversations. A Tillis aide did not return messages left for him. Tillis faces a potentially tough re-election fight next year.

Republicans control the Senate 53-47, meaning that four GOP defections would be enough to send the resolution blocking Trump's border emergency to the White House. The others are Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Paul said earlier this month that there were "at least 10" GOP senators prepared to oppose Trump's emergency. But he told reporters Tuesday that he now expects fewer defections. GOP senators are "being beaten up right now" to fall in line, he said. "So if you see anybody that's got blood dripping out of their ear, they may be changing," he said.

Murkowski said in an interview that she would consider backing legislation "that actually does constrain" the president's emergency powers, but added, "At this point in time, we don't have it."

If the Senate sends the resolution blocking Trump's border emergency to the White House, Congress would be highly unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities needed to eventually override a veto.

But final congressional approval of the resolution on Thursday would highlight a clash in which Trump was being forced to protect his signature campaign promise — building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — by vetoing legislation sent to him by a Republican-led Senate. Congress has never before voted to overturn a president's emergency declaration.

"They'd like to win and short of that they don't want a jailbreak" with large numbers of Republicans defecting, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, an adviser to Senate GOP leadership, said of the eleventh-hour White House lobbying effort.

Under a 1976 law, presidents have wide discretion in determining when a national emergency has occurred. Congress can vote to block an emergency declaration, but the two-thirds majorities required to overcome presidential vetoes make it hard for lawmakers to prevail.

Lee's proposal, released late Tuesday, says a presidential emergency would last 30 days unless Congress votes to extend it. It would apply to future emergencies, not Trump's current border emergency.

The White House wants to extend the 30-day period, perhaps to 30 days when Congress is in session, said one GOP aide familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe closed-door talks.

A vote on Lee's plan was expected after Congress returns from a recess later this month.

Democrats and some Republicans say Trump was abusing the emergency law by issuing a declaration to access money Congress had explicitly voted to deny him. Trump had repeatedly said Mexico would pay for the wall, which is not happening.

Tillis requested Pence's meeting with senators, and Pence largely was there to listen, an administration official said. Pence urged them to stand with Trump in Thursday's vote.

The White House says that Trump is within his rights to declare the national emergency and that opposing him will be seen as a vote against border security — which could play poorly in their home states.

The strongest chance of blocking Trump's border emergency is likely several lawsuits filed by Democratic state attorneys general, environmental groups and others.

___

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Trump Rips 'Da Nang Dick' Before Kim Jong Un Dinner

President Donald Trump took a break from preparations for his high-stakes meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to poke at a favorite foil on Twitter.

Trump tweeted:

"I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?). His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud - he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!"

Trump, who received five deferments from the draft for the Vietnam War, revels in mocking Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who does not publicly use the nickname “Dick,” for controversy over his Vietnam-era military service.

Blumenthal was a member of the Marine Corps Reserves from 1970 to 1976 and served in the U.S., according to the Hartford Courant, but in the past repeatedly claimed he served in Vietnam.

After The New York Times reported on Blumenthal’s false claims in May 2010, the senator acknowledged that he had “misspoken” and expressed regret.

One of Trump’s deferments from the Vietnam draft was medical, for alleged bone spurs in his feet. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, plans to say in testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that Trump asked him to handle “the negative press” over his medical deferment during the 2016 campaign.

But Trump never provided any medical records documenting the bone spurs to his former lawyer, according to Cohen’s prepared testimony. Cohen says Trump told him: “You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.”

The White House has called Cohen a liar, noting he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

Source: NewsMax Politics

0 0

Sheriff Revolt Over Gun Control Shows Why America Needs More Decentralization

Recently, a dozen sheriffs in Washington State announced that they would refuse to enforce the newly passed referendum 1639 which raised the legal age of purchasing a firearm of any sort to 21, expanded background check requirements, increased the waiting period and mandated weapon storage when not in active use.

Predictably, political proponents immediately threatened these sheriffs, who were hired to enforce county, not State, laws, with legal action. Of course, when I say passed, what I really mean is that 14 of 39 counties in Washington decided the referendum was a good idea.

Based on actual voting patterns, the victory of this particular bill can be almost entirely explained by the margin of victory in King County (506k), where Seattle is located, which accounted for 87% the margin of victory of the State-wide referendum (580k). This is a common phenomenon in many States that have a large single urban population. Another classic example is New York and the political dominance of the City in State-wide politics.

What the refusal of the 12 county law enforcement officials is doing is voicing displeasure with what amounts to a distant population dictating how they’ll operate in their own homes. Why are people in Seattle, who may never even set foot on the Eastern-side of the Cascades, let alone actually make that region their permanent home, imposing law on residents of Omak?

A nearly identical result of the above picture was experienced in Legislative Initiative 940, which mandated law enforcement personnel behave like good citizens, such as mandating de-escalation as first response and legally mandating police provide first aid to wounded individuals, including suspects shot.

Though to be fair to residents of King County, this reliance on State-wide referendums for local issues can backfire. Initiative 1634, which banned taxation of sodas and other items politicians in Seattle find in vogue to tax, also passed, essentially with only King, San Juan and Jefferson disagreeing with it.

An identical result to the above picture was experienced, though with colors flipped since it failed, for Initiative 1631 which would have imposed CO2 taxes on Washington residents. If we take all four referendums in bulk, only six counties in Washington can be considered 100% happy about the results. Everyone else basically only got some of the policies they wanted. This means that only the majorities of 15% of the counties in the State could be classified as satisfied with the results of the election cycle, leaving the other 85% stewing like those dozen sheriffs.

This is a terrible way to run a society, where only a small fraction of the people are happy with political and social decisions, the vast majority always having to eat “compromise” imposed upon them by outsiders.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Residents of Seattle, San Francisco and New York City shouldn’t have to believe that they can’t live their chosen lifestyle without this strange belief that those same policies and decisions must radiate out hundreds of miles from their borders. Nor do residents who aren’t part of large urban centers need to feel like they have to strategically handcuff urban dwellers to avoid getting swept up in their preferences.

The solution to these issues is radical decentralization. There is no logical reason why Washington State must continue to exist and can’t be split up into 39 new States. Just like there is very little that is done in D.C. that can’t be done just as well, or better, in Olympia, there’s very little that is done in Olympia that can’t be done just as well, or better, in Ephrata, Washington. This way, the people of the new State of King can have gun laws, soda taxes, a kinder police force and CO2 taxes without stepping on the toes of people in the new State of Yakima. The only real objections would come from politicians, both in D.C. and in Washington State, who are only concerned with maintaining personal power – if Washington State decentralizes into 39 independent entities, all that would happen is a layer of State politicians and bureaucrats would be laid-off and US Senators would find their vote is no longer worth 1% of the Senate but 0.6%.

In reality, the US should be made up of, at minimum, 3,142 States (the number of counties and census areas), though certain areas, like Los Angeles County can be split into at least 17 distinct States itself and NYC can be cut into 73 around police districts, each of which are large cities in their own right. Again, the only real objection to this would be the middlemen State-level politicians that no longer have a job and Congressmen that now see their voting power radically diluted. Which, to say, is not a legitimate reason oppose splitting the US up into smaller political jurisdictions.

Under such a system, people will have far fewer political grievances since they’ll unlikely have to live under a regime that’s disavorable to them. It’s much easier for someone unhappy with policies of the hypothetical State of King to move to the hypothetical State of Kittitas than it is to relocate to Idaho, similar to how it’s easier for a resident of New Mexico to relocate to Texas than it is to New Zealand. Similar to the setup in Luxemburg, or even how Clark County residents have employment in Portland, dividing up political jurisdictions into small pieces allows for people to work and live in preferred jurisdictions without significant inconvenience of a long-distance move. It’s much easier to find a county with a preferred lifestyle than trying to get an entire State to fit your preferences. This would radically reduce the desire of local sheriffs to rebel against imposed laws and people would be far happier with the expanded political choices – finding common political and social ground with 50 thousand is far easier than 7.5 million.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Germany’s tough stance on 5G security a ‘positive step forward’: U.S. official

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Deputy Assistant secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy Robert Strayer holds a news briefing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Deputy Assistant secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy Robert Strayer holds a news briefing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante/File Photo

April 10, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States wants foreign governments to follow Germany in adopting stricter security standards for next-generation 5G networks, a U.S. cybersecurity official said on Wednesday, adding that doing so would effectively rule out the use of Chinese equipment vendors.

Germany in March set tougher criteria for vendors supplying telecoms network equipment, stopping short of singling out China’s Huawei Technologies for special treatment and instead saying the same rules should apply to all vendors.

Speaking on a call with reporters on Wednesday, Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary for cyber, international communications and information policy at the U.S. State Department, said Washington approved of the German move.

“At this point we’re looking for governments to adopt security standards like we’re seeing in Germany,” he said. “We think it was a very positive step forward in the German standards.”

(Reporting by Jack Stubbs and Cassell Bryan-Low; Editing by David Evans)

Source: OANN

0 0

Man accused of posing as college student and raping teens

The owner of a Washington, D.C, barbershop is accused of posing as a Howard University student and preying on incapacitated teenagers.

Prosecutors say allegations against 35-year-old Julian Everett, of Maryland, date back to at least 2001, including a case in which he was convicted of kidnapping a transgender woman. News outlets report Everett is accused of raping three teens, ages 16 to 18, and was arrested last week on rape and related charges.

Prince George's County police say the victims, two of which were Howard students, reported going on a date with Everett and losing consciousness after being given alcohol. Police say they were then taken to another location and assaulted.

Chief Hank Stawinski says Everett posed as a student to gain credibility with the teenagers.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Dems defend Omar after Trump retweets video against her

Top Democrats on Saturday rushed to defend Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Donald Trump retweeted video that was edited to suggest she was being dismissive of the significance of the worst terrorist assault on U.S. soil.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scolded Trump for using the "painful images of 9/11 for a political attack" against the first-term Minnesota Democrat.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination to challenge Trump in 2020, said the Republican president's tweet was an "incitement to violence" against Omar, who is Muslim-American, and others like her.

The video Trump retweeted Friday pulls a snippet of Omar's recent speech to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in which she described the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center as "some people did something," and includes news footage of the hijacked planes hitting the Twin Towers. Trump also tweeted, "WE WILL NEVER FORGET!"

Omar's remark has drawn criticism largely from political opponents and conservatives who say the lawmaker, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress, offered a flippant description of the assailants and the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Neither Trump's tweet nor the video included her full quote or the context of her comments.

Omar told CAIR in Los Angeles that many Muslims saw their civil liberties eroded after the attacks, and she advocated for activism.

"For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it," she said in the March 23 speech, according to video posted online. "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."

CAIR was founded in 1994, according to its website, but its membership skyrocketed after the attacks.

Many Republicans and conservative outlets expressed outrage at Omar's remarks. Fellow Democrats, including some who have disagreed with Omar in the past, defended her.

"First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something,'" tweeted Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas. The retired Navy SEAL lost his right eye in 2012 in an explosion in Afghanistan.

"Here's your something," the New York Post blared on its cover beneath a photograph of the flaming towers.

Pelosi, who was in Germany visiting U.S. troops Saturday, said in a statement that "the memory of 9/11 is sacred ground" and should always be discussed "with reverence." The California Democrat said it is wrong for Trump to "fan the flames to make anyone less safe."

Omar didn't appear to be backing down.

She tweeted a quote from President George W. Bush, who said days after the attacks: "The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"

"Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack?" Omar tweeted. "What if he was a Muslim."

Several of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates condemned Trump's tweet.

O'Rourke, who campaigned in South Carolina on Saturday, likened Trump's tweet to his rhetoric about Mexicans, described in the past by Trump as murderers and rapists. O'Rourke said "there is a cost and there is a consequence" to Trump's comments.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted that a New York man recently was charged with threatening Omar's life.

"The video the president chose to send out today will only incite more hate," Klobuchar said. "You can disagree with her words — as I have done before — but this video is wrong. Enough."

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Omar "won't back down to Trump's racism and hate, and neither will we."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also accused Trump "of inciting violence against a sitting congresswoman — and an entire group of Americans based on their religion."

Omar repeatedly has pushed fellow Democrats into uncomfortable territory over Israel and the strength of the Jewish state's influence in Washington. She apologized for suggesting that lawmakers support Israel for pay and said she isn't criticizing Jews. But she refused to take back a tweet in which she suggested American supporters of Israel "pledge allegiance" to a foreign country.

Her comments sparked an ugly episode among House Democrats after they responded with a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and the measure became a broader declaration against all forms of bigotry.

Source: Fox News National

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist