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Russians lead after pairs short program, French favorites tumble

ISU World Figure Skating Championships - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
ISU World Figure Skating Championships - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan - March 20, 2019. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia in action during the Pairs Short Program. REUTERS/Issei Kato

March 20, 2019

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – Russian pair Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov took a commanding lead after the short program at the World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama on Wednesday after a fall left French favorites Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres in seventh.

James and Cipres, undefeated this season and the first French pair to win the European Championship in over 80 years, went down when James botched the landing on their throw triple flip and fell to the ice.

James later said a collision with Italy’s Matteo Guarise during the warm-up prior to their performance had rattled her.

“I didn’t see Matteo, Matteo didn’t see me so we crashed and I fell,” she told the International Skating Union (ISU). “It took me off a little and I was not very comfortable after. I felt a little dizzy, so I tried to stay focused.

“It was a bad skate for us today, and with the fall it was very tiring after.”

Tarasova and Morozov, who placed fourth at the 2018 Winter Olympics and second at last year’s worlds, renewed their season’s best score with 81.21 points in a dramatic, dynamic routine that had the audience clapping along at the Saitama Super Arena, just north of Tokyo.

“During the European Championships we had the same mistake both in short and free programs. Therefore, now we had to train harder not to allow this to happen anymore,” Tarasova said. “We decided to make everything at our maximum.”

James and Cipres were on 68.67 points after their routine, in which Cipres also made an uncharacteristic error when he doubled a toeloop.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “The season was long, we were not good on the ice today. It was not our moment, not our day.”

Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, who have had an injury-plagued season, were second on 79.24 after delivering a graceful routine, with compatriots Peng Cheng and Jin Yang in third with 75.51.

“While we had several mistakes at the beginning of the program, otherwise the score would be above 80 points, we still performed our best, and we would like to skate well in the free program as well,” Sui said.

The pairs winner will be decided on Thursday with the free program. The championship competitions last until March 23.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

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France repatriates small children from camps in Syria

France says it has brought back several small children held in camps in Syria, as governments debate what do with the Islamic State group's foreign fighters and their families.

The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the French children were brought back Friday from camps in northeastern Syria. The children are all 5 or younger, and some are orphans.

The statement said the Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces made the handover possible, without elaborating. The SDF is working to defeat IS in its last bastion in Syria.

The ministry said the children will get medical and psychological treatment, and stressed that French adults who fought with IS should be prosecuted in the country where they committed crimes.

French jihadis made up the largest contingent of European recruits to IS.

Source: Fox News World

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Texas Tech topples Michigan State to reach first title game

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-Semifinals-Michigan State vs Texas Tech
Apr 6, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Matt Mooney (13) shoots the ball against Michigan State Spartans guard Cassius Winston (5) during the first half in the semifinals of the 2019 men's Final Four at US Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

April 7, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS – Texas Tech extended its first-ever trip to the Final Four with a 61-51 victory over Michigan State on Saturday in a national semifinal game at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Red Raiders advance to the final game of the NCAA Tournament, Monday’s national championship game against Virginia.

On the back of fifth-year senior graduate transfer guard Matt Mooney’s 22 points, Texas Tech came out firing in the second half and held off a Spartans’ rally.

Cassius Winston led Michigan State with 16 points but shot just 4 of 16 from the floor while being tracked most of the game by Mooney, who made 8 of 16 shots and 4 of 8 from 3-point range.

Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver, the Big 12 Player of the Year, was quiet until a raindrop right-handed runner gave Texas Tech its first field goal in five minutes and a 54-51 edge with 2:28 left.

He finished with 10 points.

Senior Matt McQuaid’s bid to tie with a long 3-point attempt at the other end rattled in and out, and Culver made the first of two free throws. Texas Tech got the ball back with its fourth steal of the game on Michigan State’s next possession, and Culver hit an uncontested trey from the top of the key, putting the Red Raiders up 58-51.

Senior Norense Odiase made two free throws to seal it with 39.7 seconds left after the Spartans’ Kenny Goins clanked a 3-point try.

The Spartans stayed in the game at the free-throw line. Sophomore Xavier Tillman rattled in two after Winston connected on four consecutive shots from the stripe, and Michigan State whittled a 12-point deficit to five (52-47) with 5:38 remaining.

The Spartans cut it to three with just over three minutes to play on freshman Aaron Henry’s two makes, then made it 52-51 when Henry’s slashing layup went in with 2:44 left.

Texas Tech roared out of the halftime locker room with buckets on four of five possessions and took an eight-point lead — 39-31 — on a three-point play by freshman Kyler Edwards. Edwards drove hard from the left baseline and moved the ball from his right to left hand, putting it off the glass as he was fouled.

On the next possession, Mooney connected on a 3-ball from the wing and after a Michigan State turnover, the senior transfer drilled another to stake Texas Tech to a 45-33 advantage, prompting a red-faced Tom Izzo to call timeout.

Most of the damage was done while Culver watched from the bench with three fouls.

Suffocating defense won the first half on either end and neither team could find its legs. Only 15 of 49 field-goal attempts went through, and Texas Tech led 23-21 at the break.

–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Wynn makes $7.1 billion buyout play for Australian casino giant Crown

FILE PHOTO - The logo of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd adorns the hotel and casino complex in Melbourne
FILE PHOTO - The logo of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd adorns the hotel and casino complex in Melbourne, Australia, June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Picture

April 9, 2019

By Byron Kaye and Tom Westbrook

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian casino giant Crown Resorts said on Tuesday it had received an indicative A$10 billion ($7.1 billion) takeover offer from Las Vegas’s Wynn Resorts, sending Crown’s shares soaring as investors bet on an even higher bid.

A sale would mark an end to Crown 47-percent owner James Packer’s 12-year foray into casinos after he re-badged his father’s media empire as a gambling concern in 2007. Packer quit the Crown board last year due to mental illness.

For Wynn, the deal would give the world’s second-largest casino company a foothold in a market popular with Chinese tourists, although a recent downturn in Chinese consumer spending has constrained Crown’s revenue and share price.

“Pricewise, you’d be looking for a little bit more than this,” said James McGlew, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Perth-based Argonaut Ltd, a Crown shareholder.

“This is what appears to be the opening salvo.”

A sale along the lines proposed by Wynn would be Australia’s biggest M&A deal so far this year.

Crown shares jumped 21 percent to A$14.19, their biggest intraday gain since the company re-listed with its current name. Even so, they were still below the indicative buyout price of A$14.75 due to uncertainty about whether a deal would eventuate.

“It’s a preliminary-style bid which doesn’t yet provide an adequate premium for control, and most would expect there to be both more debate about the strategic merit and pricing,” said Angus Gluskie, managing director of White Funds Management, which also holds Crown shares.

Crown said the talks with Wynn were at a preliminary stage and no agreement on value or structure had been reached.

Wynn was proposing to buy the company half in cash, half in shares, and the current proposal had not gone to the Crown board.

A Wynn spokesman declined to comment.

A spokesman for Consolidated Press Holdings, Packer’s company which holds his Crown shares, was also not immediately available for comment.

RETREAT

The sale at the current proposed price would fetch about A$4.7 billion for Packer, who in addition to Crown quit 22 company directorships last year in a remarkable retreat for the scion of a family which had been a fixture of corporate Australia most of the 20th century.

The deal would also provide some relief for Crown shareholders, who have seen their investment go sideways since late 2016 when 18 of the company’s staff were arrested in China for breaking laws banning casino marketing.

Crown has since pulled back from its Asia expansion plans – where it had competed with Wynn in the world’s biggest gambling destination of Macau – and instead relied on high-rolling Chinese tourists at home to grow profit.

The deal would put Wynn in charge of one of Australia’s most high profile developments, a A$2.2 billion luxury casino precinct called Barangaroo on the Sydney waterfront, which Crown has pitched as its future growth engine.

Wynn has properties in the United States and Macau, but over the past year it has ramped up promotion of a resort in Japan, a market seen as the next potential goldmine to Macau and a former expansion target for Crown.

The U.S. company has seen a series of shakeups following sexual misconduct claims against former CEO Steve Wynn. The company’s largest shareholder, Elaine Wynn, who co-founded the firm with her ex-husband, is agitating for changes on the board.

(Reporting by Byron Kaye, Tom Westbrook and Paulina Duran in SYDNEY and Devika Syamnath in BENGALURU; editing by Stephen Coates)

Source: OANN

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Kraft Heinz sees ‘step backwards’ in 2019, gets SEC subpoena

FILE PHOTO - Bottles of Heinz tomato ketchup of U.S. food company Kraft Heinz are offered at a supermarket of Swiss retail group Coop in Zumikon
FILE PHOTO - Bottles of Heinz tomato ketchup of U.S. food company Kraft Heinz are offered at a supermarket of Swiss retail group Coop in Zumikon, Switzerland December 13, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

February 22, 2019

(Reuters) – Kraft Heinz Co reported disappointing quarterly results, including a $15 billion charge related to the value of its marquee Kraft and Oscar Mayer trade marks, and said it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about its accounting practices.

The company’s shares fell 11 percent in extended trading on Thursday.

The Chicago-based company, which owns the Velveeta cheese and Heinz ketchup brands, also cut its dividend and its chief financial officer said he expected the company to “take a step backwards in 2019,” setting a bleak tune for 2019.

Kraft said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization between $6.3 billion and $6.5 billion in 2019, lower than analysts’ estimates of $7.47 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company also cut its quarterly dividend to 40 cents per share from around 63 cents per share, saying the industry would remain challenged from cost inflation in the near term .

Kraft’s results underscore the challenges of an industry that is already struggling with rising raw material and operational costs.

“Profitability fell short of our expectations due to a combination of unanticipated cost inflation and lower-than-planned savings,” Chief Executive Officer Bernardo Hees said.

Additionally, the company said the SEC subpoena received in October was related to an investigation into the company’s accounting policies, procedures and internal controls related to its procurement function.

Kraft said it had taken a $25 million increase to costs sold and did not expect the matter to be material to the current or past quarters. But it said it has launched an investigation into its processes following the subpoena.

“The company is in the process of implementing certain improvements to its internal controls to mitigate the likelihood of this occurring in the future and has taken other remedial measures,” the company said.

The tater tots maker also took a $15.4 billion goodwill impairment related to its U.S. Refrigerated and Canada Retail units, and certain brands, meaning the company views those assets as less valuable than when H.J. Heinz Co and Kraft Foods Group merged in 2015 to create the third-largest North American food company.

The charge pushed Kraft to a net loss of $12.6 billion attributable to shareholders in the quarter ended Dec. 29. It earned 84 cents per share on an adjusted basis, missing Wall Street estimates of 94 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Nearly every major consumer goods company in the United States struggled with sky-rocketing commodity and transportation costs last year, exacerbated by a shortage of truck drivers.

Net sales of $6.89 billion fell short of analysts’ estimates of $6.94 billion in the reported quarter.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Brazil’s 3G Capital control Kraft Heinz. 3G handles day-to-day operations, though Berkshire owns a slightly larger, nearly 27 percent stake.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Source: OANN

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Attack give-and-take in four-way Spanish electoral debate

Four runner-ups to become the next Spanish prime minister are exchanging attacks while slipping in campaign pledges during the first of two televised live debates ahead of Sunday's general election.

Monday night's debate on Spanish public television and the second on Tuesday on a private broadcaster are seen as key in mobilizing nearly one-third of voters who polls say remain undecided.

Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez is leading voting predictions in his bid to stay in office, though short of a majority to form a government alone. He was the target of most of the criticism from opposition candidates in the debate.

A surging far-right party was left out of the debate after Spain's electoral board disallowed a five-way debate, ruling that other smaller parties would also need to be invited.

Source: Fox News World

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Taliban tries to change perception of its treatment of women ahead of peace talks

Ahead of the first ever peace talks between the Taliban and negotiators picked by the government, it is clear the Taliban is trying to soften its image, especially about women.

“I think in all of the meetings, the Taliban delegation declared several times that they would protect all the women’s rights and human rights here in Afghanistan, but within the Islamic teachings and the national culture here in this country,” according to Mullah Abdul Hakim Mujahid, currently a Taliban member of the peace council and a former Taliban Ambassador to the U.N.

The first line of defense against the Taliban is the Afghan National Army. Basic Training is now taught by Afghan officers. Equipped by Americans, they outnumber the Taliban 10 to 1 but often melt in battle. The Afghan army is plagued by desertion, illiteracy, and a basic failure to obey orders.

Without the backbone of 14,000 U.S. forces on the ground, few believe this Army could hold off determined Taliban fighters for long.

TALIBAN LAUNCHES SPRING OFFENSIVE DESPITE DELICATE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

FOX NEWS' STEVE HARRIGAN REFLECTS ON AFGHANISTAN, AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR

Other challenges could prove more difficult for the Taliban, most notably trying to gain control of the capital where their medieval views are not shared.

When the war first started there were just 1.5 million people here living in Kabul. Today there are four times that number and that could be trouble for the Taliban. How will they ever be able to control this urban population if they do take power?

For the past 18 years, girls and women in Kabul have been able to study, work, travel, which they were not allowed to do for the five years of Taliban rule. The new generation says it is not afraid of the Taliban.

“Not at all, because I think the Taliban can’t do anything now," a psychology student at Kabul University told Fox News. "No we are not, we won’t be silenced anymore.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

These girls parents pay $30 a month for their daughters to learn math, chemistry, English and Islamic studies alongside boys through seventh grade. They are safe - for now.

Source: Fox News World

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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