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Trump says will award Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom

FILE PHOTO: Tiger woods celebrates after winning the 2019 Masters
FILE PHOTO: Golf - Masters - Augusta National Golf Club - Augusta, Georgia, U.S. - April 14, 2019. Tiger Woods of the U.S. celebrates with with his green jacket after winning the 2019 Masters. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

April 15, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he would award Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom after the golfer won the Masters for the fifth time on Sunday.

“Spoke to @TigerWoods to congratulate him on the great victory he had in yesterday’s @TheMasters, & to inform him that because of his incredible Success & Comeback in Sports (Golf) and, more importantly, LIFE, I will be presenting him with the PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM,” Trump tweeted.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Asia holds breath for China data dump, NZ dollar slides

FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, November 13, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By Wayne Cole

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian share markets got off to a guarded start on Wednesday as investors waited anxiously for a raft of Chinese data that might show policy stimulus is finally gaining traction in the world’s second-largest economy.

The main mover of the morning was the New Zealand dollar which dived after a weak reading on consumer price inflation stoked expectations for a cut in interest rates.

Investors are hoping for better news from China which is forecast to report first-quarter economic growth of 6.3 percent. While that would be the slowest pace in at least 27 years, the economy is many times larger now.

A flurry of stimulus measures looks to have put a floor under activity in March, with annual growth in retail sales seen picking up to 8.4 percent. Industrial output is forecast to rise 5.9 percent and urban investment 6.3 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a fraction lower, having boasted its highest close on Tuesday since June last year.

Japan’s Nikkei inched up 0.2 percent to reach its highest in almost five months. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.06 percent.

Over on Wall Street, the Dow ended Tuesday with a slight gain of 0.26 percent, while the S&P 500 firmed 0.05 percent and the Nasdaq 0.3 percent.

Healthcare shares fell after UnitedHealth Group Inc discussed concerns about U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan, as well as the White House’s proposal to end discounts from drugmakers.

Shares of Qualcomm jumped 23 percent to $70.45, their biggest gain in more than 19 years, after winning a surprise settlement of a long-running legal dispute with Apple Inc.

Still, action across markets has become steadily more muted after a strong start to the year. The CBOE Volatility Index has hit its lowest level in more than six months, while European stock volatility reached its lowest level since January 2018.

Currency markets have been similarly becalmed. While the dollar has edged up against a basket of currencies to 97.074, it has traded between 95.00 and 97.70 for six months now.

The dollar did finally manage to top resistance on the yen at 112.13 to reach its highest since December at 112.16.

The euro was flat at $1.1285, having slipped form $1.1314 overnight on a Reuters report that several European Central Bank policymakers think the bank’s economic projections are too optimistic.

One currency on the move was the New Zealand dollar which sank 0.8 percent to $0.6708 after annual consumer price inflation came in well below expectations at just 1.5 percent for the first quarter.

Yields on two-year bonds dived 9 basis points to 1.48 percent as investors wagered the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) would have to cut rates in response.

In commodity markets, the general improvement in risk sentiment saw spot gold slip to its lowest for the year so far and was last at $1,276.61 per ounce.

Oil prices were buoyed as fighting in Libya and falling Venezuelan and Iranian exports raised concerns over tightening global supply.

U.S. crude was last up 31 cents at $64.36 a barrel, while Brent crude futures were up 14 cents at $71.86.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy Threatens to Close Hormuz Strait – Reports

The Strait of Hormuz is a key strategic waterway situated between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with about 20 percent of the world’s oil and about a third of all petroleum shipped by sea passing through it.

Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri stated on Monday that if Iran is not allowed to export oil through the Hormuz Strait, it would react immediately.

“The Hormuz Strait, based on law is an international shipping route and if we are banned from using it, we will close it”, he told TV channel Al-Alam.

The statement comes amid growing tensions between Tehran and Washington, as earlier in April, the US blacklisted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, while the Islamic Republic retaliated by officially designating the US Central Command (CENTCOM) as terrorists.


Alex breaks down global events Americans need to know.

Despite earlier threats to bring Iranian crude oil exports down “to zero”, Washington granted “temporary waivers” on exports to major customers, like China, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Greece, and Turkey, as well as Taiwan.

Iranian media later reported that despite the US sanctions, the country’s oil revenues jumped by nearly 50 percent in 2018.


Learn the real reason Dems want to impeach Trump.

Source: InfoWars

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Jordan king cancels Romania trip over Jerusalem declaration

Jordan's King Abdullah II has canceled a visit to Romania to protest its prime minister's support for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The Royal Hashemite Court said Monday that the decision came "in solidarity with Jerusalem." Abdullah was scheduled to visit Romania later in the day.

On Sunday, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila told a conference in Washington that her country was moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, a rival who's in charge of the East European nation's foreign policy, said the prime minister hadn't consulted with him over the decision.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital.

Jordan is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in east Jerusalem's Old City.

Source: Fox News World

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Progressives Defend the Indefensible Again

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A simple apology would have been the least Democrats could offer after a video surfaced of freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar brushing off the 9/11 attacks as “some people did something.”  Yes, Rep. Omar, “some people” (radical Islamists) “did something” (they murdered almost 3,000 innocent citizens in an act of cowardly, cold-blooded hate).  And your shoulder shrugging ambivalence about it as if someone accidently ran a stop sign is disgusting.  Those weren’t soldiers wearing Kevlar and carrying weapons who were slaughtered.  They were office workers, flight attendants, business people, but especially just moms and dads, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors.  

Instead, Democrats have gone on the offensive, calling Omar’s critics racist and accusing one of their Republican colleagues — an Iraq war veteran who lost an eye in combat — of not doing enough for his country. 

Over the weekend, others joined in defending Omar as the victim and blaming the whole controversy on Republicans. 

It all started when GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw called out Omar in a viral tweet, writing, “First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as ‘some people who did something.’ Unbelievable.” 

The Texas congressman was echoed by The New York Post, which published a dramatic front page photo of the World Trade Center exploding the day of the attacks, with a headline reading: “Here’s your something: 2,977 people dead by terrorism.” 

That’s when Democrats decided to unleash a vicious counterattack in defense of Omar’s insulting comments. 

Omar “is just speaking the truth,” Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib said, adding that “this is just [a] pure racist act by many of those, hateful acts, by those, because she does speak truth, when it talks about different issues that they don’t disagree with. I’m really outraged.” 

Democratic-socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped into the fray, targeting Iraq War veteran Crenshaw with a tweet saying, “In 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost ALL US domestic terrorist killings. Why don’t you go do something about that?”  Actually, Dan Crenshaw DID.  He sacrificed his security and safety to go and fight the very hateful, radical ideology that you and your soul sisters are oblivious to.  He came back without sight in one eye. 

Basically, the Democrats are saying that anyone who questions or challenges Omar’s radically insensitive remarks is a racist, and that right-wingers are a greater threat to America than radical Islamic terrorists. 

Omar even went after former President George W. Bush in an effort to deflect the heat from herself, pointing out that he referred to “the people who knocked these buildings down” while visiting Ground Zero and asking if he was also “downplaying” the attack. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has also come to Omar’s defense, calling her critics “disgusting” and “shameful.” 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi subsequently tried to turn the tables on President Trump by announcing that she had requested a “security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar” after the president posted a tweet criticizing Omar’s comments; the speaker’s comments then elicited a scathing rebuke from Trump. 

“Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made,” he wrote. Omar “is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!” 

Nearly 3,000 Americans died on 9/11, and thousands more have been killed or wounded fighting radical Islam throughout the world since then. Omar and her Democratic defenders disrespected every single one of those heroes, as well as the families that mourn them, and they owe all of America an apology. 

But today’s Democrat Party never apologizes. It doubles down, claims victimhood, and counterattacks. No matter what, progressivism gives no quarter. 

Mike Huckabee served as the 44th governor of Arkansas and ran as a 2016 Republican candidate for president. He is the host of "Huckabee" on Trinity Broadcasting Network. You can follow him on Twitter @GovMikeHuckabee.

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The Next Shoes to Drop After the Mueller Report

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Footwear aplenty will fall as more details from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report are disclosed. The reckoning will come in several baskets and will fall on Democrats and Republicans alike, with major ramifications for 2020.

Basket No. 1: More information about the Mueller Report and the basis for its conclusions.

The public wants that information and deserves it. Democrats will cry “coverup” if they don’t get everything. While Republicans emphasize “no collusion,” Democrats will concentrate their attention on Mueller’s indecision regarding President Trump’s possible obstruction of justice. Democrats will press Attorney General William Barr about the special counsel’s ambiguous conclusion—and Barr’s own definitive one--about the obstruction issue. Other Trump critics, who heretofore have described Bob Mueller as a modern-day Eliot Ness, will start crying, “Whitewash!”

There are four potential obstacles to releasing the entire report and underlying evidence. Some of it may be classified, some protected by grand jury secrecy, and some may reflect badly on people Mueller declined to charge. The president could also claim executive privilege, but probably won’t because doing so is perilous politically.

Perilous, too, is the Democrats’ insistent demand for transparency. The investigation was thorough – and lasted more than the first half of Trump’s four-year term. More evidence might only reinforce Trump’s claim he’s entirely innocent. He’ll pound that home.

Basket No. 2: Will House Democrats push ahead with other investigations of Trump?

The short answer is: Yes. The big decision is how long they will keep it up. The liberal donor base loves it, but most voters do not. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knows that and wants to protect her majority, which depends on swing districts. But she can’t control the party’s vocal left wing or its independent committee chairs, particularly Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff.

Basket No. 3: Expect serious backlash as voters ask, “Who led us down this rabbit hole?”

Average voters—not on the extremes in either party—are bound to ask that question. The Democrats and their media allies have made “Russia Collusion” their top story line for two years. If they persist on that course instead of focusing on health care, income inequality, and foreign enemies, they look like Inspector Javert, or, worse, Inspector Clouseau.

The mainstream media are already badly damaged. They followed the same path and, in the process, obliterated the once-sacred line between reporting and opinion.

Basket No. 4: Did the FBI, Department of Justice, and intelligence agencies commit their own wrongdoing?

This final basket overflows with shoes that could drop. The cascade may well begin with three upcoming reports from DoJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz likely to result in grand jury investigations. So will the documents that Trump could declassify and release. (He’s been waiting for the Mueller investigation to end.) To restore faith in the rule of law, prosecutions cannot be seen as political retaliation. Accountability for law enforcement and intelligence agencies should be pursued by apolitical career prosecutors and made as transparent as possible.

The slap-dash investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email shenanigans must be thoroughly reviewed. Her aides received unprecedented immunity without giving evidence; their computers and cellphones were destroyed; and the principal herself was cleared before an interview with her was conducted. Who really made the decision not to prosecute? James Comey says he did. But FBI lawyer Lisa Page testified under oath that the order came from the Department of Justice. This discrepancy must be resolved, along with the obvious questions raised by the original decision.  How high up did it go? Did it reach the Obama White House?

Who unmasked the countless U.S. citizens whose names came up during foreign surveillance operations? Who illegally leaked them? Expect to learn about FBI and intelligence agencies’ efforts to penetrate the Trump campaign. Who was behind it? On what evidence did they base it?

We also need to know a lot more about the warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. He is a U.S. citizen, entitled to those protections, and had cooperated freely with our intelligence community. But the FBI decided on secret surveillance. It came up empty.

Was the surveillance warrant against Page obtained on false pretenses? This would be the case if the foreign intelligence court (FISA) was given inaccurate, incomplete, and unverified information. That is almost certainly what happened, and the evidence needs to be fleshed out. How important was the “Russian dossier” compiled by Christopher Steele at the direction of Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS? Why wasn’t its funding by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee disclosed to the courts? Why didn’t the warrant-seekers disclose Steele’s bias, which was known to the FBI? Why did top law-enforcement officials certify the dossier as verified when it was not? To compound this mess, why wasn’t the court given exculpatory evidence, as required?

While the court was being told one thing, Donald Trump was being told another. Comey specifically told Trump the dossier was not verified. That’s not in dispute. Nor is the leak that immediately followed the briefing. Until then, media outlets had declined to mention the dossier because it looked so unreliable. A presidential briefing made it newsworthy. The story was bound to damage Trump, which was apparently the reason for the briefing. This matters not only because the leak was illegal but because it appears to have been part of a coordinated effort by law-enforcement agencies to undermine a presidential candidate and duly-elected president. We need to know what happened—all of it—and then hold people accountable. If laws need to be changed to prevent its repetition, pass them.

After all this time, the FBI still refuses to say what started the Trump investigations. It won’t say if agents tried to entrap people associated with the campaign. It won’t say why it did not warn Trump that Russians might be trying to penetrate his campaign. Contrast that with the kid-glove treatment of Dianne Feinstein, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, when her driver was found to be a Chinese spy. She was privately informed and the staffer quietly removed.

Those are major, unanswered questions. They are central to the rule of law, and there are far too many of them. The answers are likely to pose serious problems for top officials in President Obama’s DoJ, FBI, and intelligence agencies.

A boatload of shoes is about to drop.

Charles Lipson is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he is founding director of PIPES, the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security. He can be reached at charles.lipson@gmail.com.

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ICE makes more arrests at decoy university; some detainees being deported, authorities say

Federal immigration authorities say they have arrested more students enrolled at a sham Detroit-area university created by the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested 161 foreign nationals at the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills, Mich., on immigration violations since the operation began in January, ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls told the Detroit Free Press.

"Several have since been removed and others are currently in various stages of the removal process," Walls said.

MORE THAN 700K FOREIGN NATIONALS OVERSTAYED VISAS IN 2017, DHS SAYS

Authorities announced Jan. 30 that 130 students enrolled at the university had been arrested. The sting set up by DHS involved making the bogus school appear to be a real institution, including accreditation. Many of the students were enrolled in master’s degree programs for engineering and computer-related fields and arrived in the U.S. through student visas, immigration attorneys said.

The detained students – mostly from India - were being housed in 34 lockups across the county, according to the American Telugu Association.

Many hail from the Telugu-speaking areas of India, the association told the paper. Some come from poor areas and took out substantial loans "to study here to study and pursue the American dream," association president Parmesh Bheemreddy told the paper.

“Now, it will be difficult to pay off their debts after they're sent back to India,” he said.

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The immigration violations of which they are accused happened only because they were enrolled in the fake university, something they didn’t know at the time, immigration attorneys said. Some of the remaining 440 students who haven’t been arrested have opted to leave the U.S.

The Indian government said it is trying to help the detained students. The students were told they could work on what are called Optional Practical Training or Curricular Practical Training programs after they enrolled. The U.S. government says the Farmington University didn't have classes.

Source: Fox News National

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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.)

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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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