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French fourth-quarter economic growth holds up in face of protests

A woman walks past a shop window with cans of soda in Paris
A woman walks past a shop window with cans of soda in Paris, France, April 19, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

March 26, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – The French economy managed to keep up a steady pace of growth in the fourth quarter despite a series of violent anti-government protests that weighed on business and consumer confidence, official data showed on Tuesday.

The INSEE statistics agency said the euro zone’s second-biggest economy grew 0.3 percent in the three months to the end of December from the previous quarter, when it also grew at the same rate.

As a result the economy grew 1.6 percent over the course of last year, marginally better than the 1.5 percent flagged in a previous estimate.

Strong exports, as companies such as Airbus rushed to complete shipments before the end of the year, helped offset weak consumer spending.

Many stores in central Paris had to close on peak pre-holiday shopping days as the capital faced some of the worst rioting and vandalism in decades as the protests initially over the high cost of living spiraled out of control.

French households squirreled away cash, instead of spending money resulting from a surge in extra income at the end of last year, boosted by the scrapping of a payroll tax for unemployment insurance.

INSEE said the households’ real disposable income growth accelerated to 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter from 0.7 percent in the previous three months while the savings rate jumped to 15.2 percent from 14.3 percent.

Meanwhile, consumer spending growth was flat after growing 0.4 percent in the previous quarter.

In the corporate sector, investment growth fell to 0.3 percent from 1.7 percent in the third quarter as companies’ profit margins nudged up to 31.8 percent from 31.7 percent in the third quarter, INSEE said.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

Source: OANN

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India’s Modi condemns Sri Lanka attacks, says he can defeat the ‘terrorists’

FILE PHOTO - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi listens to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he speaks during their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi
FILE PHOTO - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi listens to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he speaks during their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

April 21, 2019

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – After condemning the series of deadly bomb attacks on Sri Lankan churches and luxury hotels on Sunday that killed more than 200 people, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told voters that they needed to elect him to a second term as only he can beat the “terrorists” threatening India.

“Should terrorism be finished or not?,” he told an election rally in the western state of Rajasthan. “Who can do this? Can you think of any name aside from Modi? Can anybody else do this?”

Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have promoted the government’s national security record as a vote winner in India’s staggered general election that began on April 11 and will end on May 19. Votes will be counted on May 23.

In particular, Modi’s muscular stance against Pakistan, which New Delhi says backs armed Islamist militant groups, had boosted support for the BJP in a tightening election race where opposition parties have focused on weak jobs growth and low farm incomes.

Tensions between India and Pakistan peaked earlier this year after a February suicide bomb attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paratroopers, and was claimed by an Islamist militant group based in Pakistan. Modi then sent warplanes to Pakistan to bomb a purported training camp, in India’s first such aerial strike since 1971.

Indian officials say that three Indian nationals are known to be among the dead in the Sri Lankan attacks. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

“In our neighboring Sri Lanka, terrorists have played a bloody game. They killed innocent people,” Modi said.

At another rally in Rajasthan on Sunday, Modi again mentioned the attacks in Sri Lanka and said that India, too, continues to suffer because of militants.

“India has now ended its policy of getting scared of Pakistan’s threats,” Modi said, “‘We have a nuclear button, we have a nuclear button’ they used to say.”

“What do we have then?” he said, to cheers from the crowd.

Pakistan has 140 to 150 nuclear warheads, compared with India’s 130-140 warheads, according to estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Both countries have ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Additional reporting by Jose Devasia; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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India’s Hindu groups quietly put controversial temple plan on backburner

FILE PHOTO: People look at a model of a proposed Ram temple that Hindu groups want to build at a disputed religious site in Ayodhya
FILE PHOTO: People look at a model of a proposed Ram temple that Hindu groups want to build at a disputed religious site in Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, November 9, 2018. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar/File Photo

April 3, 2019

By Mayank Bhardwaj, Neha Dasgupta and Rupam Jain

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Millions of Hindus will wake up at the crack of dawn this Saturday, five days before the start of India’s general election, and march to nearby temples to chant a sacred hymn and renew a pledge to build a temple on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque.

Hardline Hindu allies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) say they will mobilize more than 10 million people on April 6 – the start of the Hindu New Year – to shore up support for the contentious plan to build a temple in the northern town of Ayodhya.

But while the event will keep the focus on a core demand of India’s Hindu nationalists, it will not overtly be part of the BJP’s election campaign, signaling a softer approach by the ruling party, multiple sources familiar with discussions said.

The commitment to construct a grand temple in Ayodhya to the Hindu god-king Ram has been part of the BJP’s election manifesto since the 1990s and has helped the party garner Hindu votes in state and federal elections since then.

However, the BJP and its allies are concerned that focusing on the temple issue could be too hot to handle, especially since it is now the party in power. It could worsen communal tensions and trigger religious riots in the country, said a senior BJP leader.

“We cannot underestimate the power of Hindu fringe groups, and it’s best not to ignite these issues,” said a BJP leader who is overseeing the party’s election strategy.

The BJP leader and two other senior party members, two federal ministers and four members of hardline Hindu groups, who didn’t wish to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, said they reached a consensus to fold the temple issue into a broader religious and cultural discourse, without being too vocal about it.

Following a meeting between senior religious leaders and BJP politicians in January, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the World Hindu Council, which is leading the movement for building the Ayodhya temple, put its agitation on hold in February.

Details of the meeting have not been published previously.

The VHP, which shares ideological ties with the BJP, would renew its demand only after the general election, its leaders said.

“While we remain committed to the cause that is so close to the hearts of Hindus, we’re unanimous in our view that it’s not the right time to amplify the temple issue,” said Alok Kumar, international working president of the VHP. “Politicization leads to controversies.”

HINDU-MUSLIM RIOTS

The VHP has distributed pamphlets and issued appeals on social media to participate in a chanting ceremony aimed at renewing the pledge to build the temple on the spot where many Hindus believe Ram was born, where the mosque stood.

Sanjay Mayukh, a BJP spokesman in New Delhi, declined comment on the April 6 event being organized by the VHP.

“We wish them (VHP) a success and we will celebrate the Hindu New Year too,” said Mayukh.

A militant Hindu mob tore down the mosque in 1992, sparking riots that killed about 2,000 people in one of the worst instances of sectarian violence in India since independence in 1947.

The mosque, built by a Muslim ruler in 1528, has been one of the prime causes of conflict between India’s majority Hindus and minority Muslims, who constitute 14 percent of the country’s 1.3 billion people.

India’s Supreme Court is now in control of the site in Uttar Pradesh state and has been weighing petitions from both communities on what should be built there.

In March, the country’s top court appointed an arbitration panel to mediate in the dispute. It’s verdict is yet to come.

BJP election candidates confirmed they are avoiding the temple issue in their campaigns.

Former government minister and BJP lawmaker Sanjeev Baliyan, who is contesting the election from a constituency in Uttar Pradesh, said he has instructed supporters to “refrain from using the Ayodhya issue in any political rally.”

At least 65 people were killed in clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Baliyan’s constituency in 2013.

“The danger of any religious tension spilling out of our control would change the election mood. Best to keep religious issues away from politics for now,” he told Reuters.

Instead, Baliyan said, his campaign would focus on the BJP’s achievements during its last five years in power and national security issues.

Most pollsters expect the BJP to emerge to win the highest number of seats in the election after recent military exchanges between India and arch enemy Pakistan led to a wave of nationalist fervor that has helped Modi.

But the pollsters say the BJP is unlikely to repeat its sweeping victory of 2014 because of the government’s inability to provide jobs to the millions of youngsters coming into the job market each year and depressed rural incomes.

The BJP is also under fire from small business owners, traditional supporters of the party, who say they have suffered because of a rocky start to the Goods and Services Tax, India’s biggest tax reform, and Modi’s shock move to ban high-value banknotes in 2016.

The big question may be whether the BJP gets enough seats in the 544-member lower house of parliament to govern without having to form a coalition with other parties.

India begins voting on April 11 and the staggered election is scheduled to end on May 19. Results will be declared on May 23.

Ambuj Nigam, the leader of the Vishwa Hindu Dal, a Hindu hardline Hindu group that came into existence in 2018, said the demand for a temple would again gain momentum after the general election.

“We have put all our controversial works on hold,” said Nigam. “But as soon as election results are out, we will bring Hindu nationalism back to the forefront.”

(Additional reporting Zeba Siddiqui,; Editing by Martin Howell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: OANN

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Barr rules to keep asylum seekers in detention during deportation proceedings

Attorney General William Barr has ruled that asylum seekers facing removal who show they have a “credible fear” of being returned to their homeland will no longer be eligible for release on bond -- meaning they will have to remain in detention while their cases are pending.

The decision is Barr’s first immigration-related ruling since being confirmed as attorney general and comes as the Trump administration clamps down on illegal immigration amid a surge at the border. The attorney general has the authority to overturn prior rulings made by immigration courts, which fall under the Justice Department.

COURT TEMPORARILY BLOCKS HALT TO TRUMP POLICY FORCING ASYLUM-SEEKERS TO STAY IN MEXICO 

"The question presented is whether aliens who are originally placed in expedited proceedings and then transferred to full proceedings after establishing a credible fear become eligible for bond upon transfer. I conclude that such aliens remain ineligible for bond, whether they are arriving at the border or are apprehended in the United States," the decision states.

The ruling was almost immediately panned by civil rights and immigration rights groups, with the American Civil Liberties Union calling it unconstitutional and vowing to sue.

"This is the Trump administration’s latest assault on people fleeing persecution and seeking refuge in the United States,” Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “Our Constitution does not allow the government to lock up asylum seekers without basic due process. We'll see the administration in court."

Barr's ruling pertains to those who clear a "credible fear" interview and are facing removal.

The decision doesn't affect asylum-seeking families because they generally can't be held for longer than 20 days. It also doesn't apply to unaccompanied minors.

Barr's ruling takes effect in 90 days and comes amid a frustrating time for the administration as the number of border crossers has skyrocketed. Most of them are families from Central America who are fleeing violence and poverty. Many seek asylum.

There were a total of 161,000 asylum applications filed in the last fiscal year and 46,000 in the first quarter of 2019, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts.

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Sarah Pierce, policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, said the number of decisions by immigration judges that the administration of President Trump has referred to itself for review is unprecedented. The administration — under both Barr and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions — has reviewed a total of 10 immigration rulings. That's compared to four under all of President Barack Obama's tenure and nine during George W. Bush's.

"This has been a really unprecedented use of power to influence the immigration system," Pierce said.

Fox News' Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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AP, HBO, NBC could be next outlets sued over coverage of Covington Catholic student: co-counsel

The Associated Press and television networks NBC and HBO could be the next three entities sued over their handling of the viral video featuring Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, his co-counsel told Fox News on Tuesday.

Todd McMurtry revealed the potential upcoming legal targets during an interview with Fox News just one day after a massive $275 million suit was filed against CNN due to its coverage of the January confrontation between Sandmann -- wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat -- and Native American activist, Nathan Phillips.

“Our plan is to come out with an additional lawsuit every few weeks or months. We have to issue opportunities for these news organizations to provide retractions,” McMurtry told the "Todd Starnes Radio Show." "But right now we're looking very carefully at NBC, AP, HBO. And again, HBO is primarily because they carry Bill Maher's disgusting comments about Nicholas Sandmann. So those probably are the next three defendants."

SANDMANN, FAMILY SUE CNN FOR $275M IN COVINGTON CATHOLIC CONTROVERSY

Maher referred to Sandmann as a “little pr---” during the Jan. 27 episode of his show, “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

"I don't blame the kid, the smirk-face kid," Maher said. "I blame lead poisoning and bad parenting. And, oh yeah, I blame the f---ing kid, what a little pr---. Smirk face, like that's not a d--- move at any age to stick your face in this elderly man.”

COVINGTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT'S LEGAL TEAM SUES WASHINGTON POST

Maher then made a crude joke about the abuse of children that has taken place in the Catholic Church, saying: “You know, I don't spend a lot of time, I must tell you, around Catholic school children, but I do not get what Catholic priests see in these kids.”

In addition to the CNN suit, Sandmann’s legal team also launched legal action against the Washington Post.

McMurtry told Fox News the goal of the suits is to change the “mainstream media’s” behavior.

”Clearly what we want to do is stop them from behaving in a way that discards all journalistic integrity,” he said. “Here they didn’t investigate. They took something off of Twitter and put it right out into the media.”

CONSERVATIVE LEADERS DEMAND APOLOGY FOR MEDIA TREATMENT OF COVINGTON STUDENTS

The suit against CNN charges that the network "elevated false, heinous accusations of racist conduct" against Sandmann and failed to adhere to "well-established journalistic standards and ethics."

The lawsuit against The Washington Post accuses that outlet of practicing "a modern-day form of McCarthyism" by targeting Sandmann and "using its vast financial resources to enter the bully pulpit by publishing a series of false and defamatory print and online articles...to smear a young boy who was, in its view, an acceptable casualty in their war against the president."

The Post has since published an editor’s note admitting subsequent information either contradicted or failed to confirm accounts relayed in its initial article about the video. The editor’s note was not satisfactory to Sandmann’s legal team, however.

DAD OF COVINGTON STUDENT NICK SANDMANN BACKS KENTUCKY'S ANTI-DOXXING BILL IN EMOTIONAL TESTIMONY

Sandmann, a junior at Covington in Kentucky, became a target for outrage after the January video surfaced. The 16-year-old was one of a group of students from Covington attending the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C., while Phillips was attending the Indigenous Peoples' March on the same day.

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Sandmann and the Covington students were initially accused of initiating the confrontation, but other videos and the students' own statements showed that they were verbally accosted by a group of black street preachers who were shouting insults at them and the Native Americans. Sandmann and Phillips have both said they were trying to defuse the situation.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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New Zealand terror attack: Death toll in mosque shootings rises to 49 – police

Police Commissioner Mike Bush has confirmed that the death toll in the Christchurch mosque attacks has risen to 49 people. A male in his 20s has been charged with murder and will appear in court tomorrow.

Bush confirmed that a further 20 people were injured in what is now the worst ever mass shooting in New Zealand history. Some 40 people were taken to hospital but it was not targeted in the attack, contrary to rumors online.

“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. In the aftermath of the attacks, New Zealand has been placed on its highest security threat level according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Bush confirmed that a further 20 people were injured in what is now the worst ever mass shooting in New Zealand history. Some 40 people were taken to hospital but it was not targeted in the attack, contrary to rumors online.


Brexit has again hit a bump in the road as lawmakers will vote on whether to delay the UK’s departure from the European Union beyond March 29. Paul Joseph Watson breaks down the process and explains how the British can take back control of their country.

“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. In the aftermath of the attacks, New Zealand has been placed on its highest security threat level according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Four people were taken into custody, three men and one woman, in connection with the attack but only one has been charged with murder so far. It has been confirmed that all four held extremist views but were not on any police watchlists.

One of the four has already been charged with murder and will appear in court tomorrow but Police Commissioner Bush declined to confirm the name of the suspect prior to the court hearing. The extent of the other three suspects’ involvement has yet to be determined.

When asked if police were looking for any other persons of interest related to the case, Bush responded that “we never assume that there aren’t other people involved” but that “at this point we are not looking for any other persons.”

He also confirmed that, while there were two Improvised Explosive Devices found on one of the perpetrator’s vehicles (one of which was deactivated, the other is still being worked on by the New Zealand Defence Forces), no bomb belts or other explosive devices were found on the body of one of the suspects as had been speculated as the situation unfolded.

Bush declined to speculate on the motives of the attacker and would not confirm whether clear threats had been made on Facebook prior to the attack and that police had prior warning.

The Bangladesh National Cricket team was due to visit one of the mosques but managed to escape the violence.

Source: InfoWars

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Study Raises Awareness on Portion Size With Preschoolers

Preschoolers may not be as good at resisting large portions of everyday foods as was previously thought, according to Penn State researchers.

In a study, the researchers examined whether children between the ages of three and five were susceptible to the portion size effect — the tendency of people to eat more when larger portions are served.

They found that when served larger portions of typical meals or snacks, the children consumed more food, both by weight and calories.

Alissa Smethers, a doctoral student in nutritional sciences, said the findings — recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition — suggest that caregivers should pay close attention to not just the amount of food they serve but also the variety of food.

“It’s hard to define portions that are appropriate for all preschoolers, since their calorie requirements vary due to differences in height, weight and activity level,” Smethers said. “But it’s a good idea to look at the proportions of different foods you’re serving, with fruits and vegetables filling up half the plate and with smaller portions of more calorie-dense foods, as recommended in the USDA MyPlate nutrition guide.”

Barbara Rolls, Helen A. Guthrie Chair and director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State, added that the results also suggest that the portion-size effect can be used strategically by caregivers to help children eat more fruits and vegetables.

“The positive side is that you can use the portion size effect strategically, for example by serving larger portions of fruits and vegetables to increase their consumption,” Rolls said. “You can also serve them at the start of the meal or on their own as snacks. When there are no other foods competing with them, kids may be more likely to eat them.”


Robert Barnes joins Alex Jones live in studio to discuss how adversity shouldn’t be avoided for children.

Smethers said that while it was known that adults are likely to eat more when served larger portions of food over time, it was thought by some researchers that young children can sense how many calories from food they need and adjust their eating habits accordingly, a process called “self-regulation.”

Previous studies have tested this theory by looking at children’s eating habits at one meal or over a single day. But Smethers said it may take longer — up to three to four days — for self-regulation to kick in, and so she and the other researchers wanted to study the portion size effect in children across a full five days.

The researchers recruited 46 children between the ages of three and five from childcare centers at the University Park campus for the five-day study. All meals and snacks were provided for the children, who during one five-day period received baseline-sized portions — based on Child and Adult Care Food Program requirements — and during another period had portions that were increased in size by 50 percent.

“In the larger portion meals, we wanted to serve portion sizes that the children might encounter in their everyday lives,” Smethers said. “For example, instead of getting four pieces of chicken nuggets, they would get six, for a 50 percent increase.”

During both five-day periods, the children were allowed to eat as much or as little of their meals or snacks as they wanted. After the children were done eating, the leftover foods were weighed to measure how much each child consumed.

(Photo by Bjoern von Thuelen / Flickr)

Additionally, each child wore an accelerometer throughout each five-day period to measure their activity levels, and the researchers measured their height and weight.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that serving larger portions led to the children eating 16 percent more food than when served the smaller portions, leading to an extra 18 percent of calories.

“If preschoolers did have the ability to self-regulate their calorie intake, they should have sensed that they were getting extra over the five days and started eating less,” Rolls said. “But we didn’t see any evidence of that.”

The researchers also found that children with higher BMI percentiles for their age were more likely to be influenced by larger portions. Additionally, the portion size effect seemed stronger in children with overweight or obesity than for children without.

“We found that while the portion size effect is powerful overall, some children seemed to be more susceptible to the effect than others,” Smethers said. “Children who were rated by their parents as more responsive to food when it’s in front of them were also affected more by portion size, while children who were rated as paying attention to whether or not they were actually hungry were less affected by portion size.”


Owen Shroyer presents video footage of himself crashing the pro-Planned Parenthood rally held at the Texas capital where he confronts a drag queen.

Source: InfoWars

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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)

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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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