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Snooker: Amateur Cahill beats O’Sullivan in first round of world championship

FILE PHOTO: Dafabet Masters
FILE PHOTO: Snooker - Dafabet Masters - Alexandra Palace - 17/1/16 Ronnie O'Sullivan during an interview after victory in the final Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Peter Cziborra/File Photo

April 23, 2019

(Reuters) – Five-times world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was knocked out of the World Snooker Championship by amateur James Cahill at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on Tuesday in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history.

The unranked debutant Cahill, who is the first amateur to play at the Crucible, beat O’Sullivan 10-8 to advance to the second round at the expense of the world number one who has 36 ranking titles.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: OANN

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Dems' Boycott of Fox News Is a Many-Layered Mistake

Dems' Boycott of Fox News Is a Many-Layered Mistake

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

As the Democratic National Committee plays to its increasingly left wing base, it has also made an in kind donation to the reelection campaign of President Trump. Its decision to drop Fox News as a setting for primary debates for the 2020 election is one of those great surprises that should come as no surprise.

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Swedbank board reaffirms confidence in CEO after money-laundering report

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past Swedbank branch in Riga
FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past a Swedbank branch in Riga October 21, 2014. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins//File Photo

March 22, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedbank’s board has continued confidence in the bank’s chief executive after seeing the results of an external report into alleged money-laundering in the Baltics, the head of the company’s board said in a statement on Friday.

“After reviewing the FRA Update, the board confirms its continued confidence in the CEO and her ability to lead and manage the bank’s work in the fight against money laundering,” Swedbank chairman Lars Idermark said in the statement.

Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) was hired by Swedbank last month to investigate allegations in the media that at least 40 billion Swedish crowns ($4.3 bln) of suspicious payments moved between accounts held at its Baltic branches and suspect accounts at Danske Bank between 2007-2015.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Esha Vaish and Johannes Hellstrom)

Source: OANN

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U.S. retail sales rise in January; December revised sharply down

People walk with shopping bags at Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City
FILE PHOTO: People walk with shopping bags at Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, New York, U.S., December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

March 11, 2019

WASHINGTON, March 11 – U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in January, lifted by an increase in purchases of building materials and discretionary spending, but receipts in December were much weaker than initially thought.

The Commerce Department said on Monday retail sales rose 0.2 percent. Data for December was revised down to show retail sales dropping 1.6 percent instead of tumbling 1.2 percent as previously reported. The drop in December was the biggest since September 2009 when the economy was emerging from recession.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales to be unchanged in January. Retail sales in January increased 2.3 percent from a year ago.

The January retail sales report was delayed by a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government that ended on Jan. 25. February’s retail sales report, which was scheduled for publication on Thursday, will be released on April 1.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rebounded 1.1 percent in January after a downwardly revised 2.3 percent plunge in December. These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product.

They were previously reported to have decreased 1.7 percent in December. The downward revision to December core retail sales could have an impact on the government’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product estimate.

The government reported last month that the economy grew at a 2.6 percent annualized rate in the last three months of 2018.

However, December reports on the trade deficit and construction spending have led economists to believe fourth-quarter GDP growth estimate would be revised lower when the government publishes its revisions later this month.

The rebound in January core retail sales will probably do little to change expectations of a significant slowdown in economic activity in the first quarter. Growth estimates for the first quarter are below a 1.5 percent pace.

In January, online and mail-order retail sales increased 2.6 percent, the biggest gain since December 2017. Receipts at auto dealerships tumbled 2.4 percent in January, the biggest drop since January 2014, after gaining 0.3 percent in the prior month. Sales at building material stores increased 3.3 percent, the most since September 2017.

Receipts at service stations fell 2.0 percent reflecting cheaper gasoline prices. There were declines in sales at clothing and furniture stores.

Sales at restaurants and bars rose 0.7 percent and spending at hobby, musical instrument and book stores increased 4.8 percent, the largest advance since January 2013.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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Judge allows video of face-biting suspect as evidence

A judge will allow as evidence a video of a former college student struggling against his restraints at a Florida hospital on the night he's accused of killing two people.

Austin Harrouff's attorneys say the video shows the "mental status" of the 22-year-old hours after he's accused of killing 59-year-old John Stevens III and 53-year-old Michelle Mishcon. Police say the Florida State University student was found biting and chewing on Stevens' face in the couple's driveway.

Harrouff is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

TC Palm reports Monday's hearing centered on 1:14 seconds of video described in a defense motion as Harrouff in his hospital bed "fighting against his restraints."

Forensic psychologist Dr. Phillip Resnick has said Harrouff believed he was "half-dog, half man" when he attacked the couple.

Source: Fox News National

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Britain says EU could hold emergency summit to offer conditional Brexit extension

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is seen outside Downing Street in London
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is seen outside Downing Street in London, Britain March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

March 21, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union could next week hold an emergency summit to offer a Brexit extension with potentially onerous conditions such as holding another referendum, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday.

“There could be and we don’t know there will be an EU emergency summit to offer us an extension,” Hunt told BBC radio.

“We don’t know what the length would be and it could have some very onerous conditions,” such as holding another referendum. He said such an option would be unlikely to be supported by the British parliament.

Hunt said the government did not yet know whether Prime Minister Theresa May’s twice-defeated Brexit deal would be brought back to parliament next week.

“Do we resolve this or have Brexit paralysis?” Hunt said. He said a no-deal exit on March 29 remained the legal default.

Hunt said if the deadlock remained next week – parliament still had the option to vote to revoke Article 50 and cancel the entire Brexit process, though it was “highly unlikely”

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill. Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

Source: OANN

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Explainer: Pros and cons of a customs union for Brexit Britain

FILE PHOTO: British and EU flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament in London
FILE PHOTO: British and EU flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

April 1, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The British parliament will on Monday hold a second round of indicative votes on various Brexit alternatives, and the customs union could emerge as a preferred solution for lawmakers who have rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal.

A customs union would allow an easier flow of goods, but would not itself guarantee frictionless trade and would limit, but not prevent, Britain’s capacity to strike its own free trade deals.

HOW INDEPENDENT?

The European Union is itself a customs union and is also part of three other customs unions with Andorra, San Marino and Turkey.

In the case of Turkey, the arrangement does not include agricultural or coal and steel products. Other goods can circulate without paying customs duties and the whole zone applies the same import duties for products from third countries – such as the 10 percent rate for imported cars.

Unlike a free trade deal, a customs union removes the need for complex rules to determine whether a good is really from a given partner – such as a machine with multiple imported components. Such “rules of origin” can prove costly and time-consuming for exporters.

Being a member of a customs union limits, but does not prevent the separate participants from striking their own free trade agreements with other countries.

Turkey, the junior partner in the customs union with the EU, does face a challenge. The EU’s recent free trade deal with Japan opens Turkey up to inbound Japanese cars without providing reciprocal access for Turkish products to Japan’s market.

The junior customs union partner, which Britain would likely be, can find itself playing catch-up with a reduced bargaining position, given their own market is already open.

Turkey did for example begin a free trade deal covering goods with South Korea in 2013, two years after an EU-South Korea accord came into effect. It remains in exploratory talks with Canada, whose deal with the EU began in 2017.

However, Turkey is free is in those areas not covered by the customs union. So, following their agreement on goods, Turkey and South Korea also struck in 2015 a bilateral deal covering services and investment.

Depending on the nature of an EU-Britain customs union, Britain would still be able to negotiate with others trade access covering its large financial services market, investment, public procurement, data flows and possibly agricultural quotas.

FRICTIONLESS TRADE

Delays that can even extend beyond 24 hours at the EU-Turkish land border show that a customs union in itself is no guarantee of frictionless trade.

Turkish trucks laden with goods bound for the European Union still need to show documents including export declarations and invoices and transport permits for each EU country through which the truck plans to travel.

So far the EU has limited deals on road transport access to countries that accept free movement of people, such as Norway and Switzerland.

The controls come despite Turkey having aligned its legislation with certain EU internal market rules, such as covering product standards, intellectual property rights and competition controls.

Goods also can be subject to inspections at the border to confirm they comply with EU regulations.

HARD IRISH BORDER

A customs union would ease the flow of goods across the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but would appear unlikely on its own to prevent a hard border.

It would need to go beyond the EU-Turkey union to cover agricultural produce, notably dairy and beef. Britain would then find itself bound to retain EU measures to prevent diseases, pests and contaminants in plants and animals.

The EU and New Zealand already have such an agreement on sanitary measures without yet having a free trade deal, which for example allows New Zealand to export to the EU more than 200,000 tonnes of lamb.

A customs union, together with requirements to meet EU single market rules on products, which would be subject to European Court of Justice control.

Such an enhanced customs union would not so much replace as resemble the “backstop” agreed between London and Brussels, but rejected by British lawmaker, in which Britain would enter a “single customs territory” with the EU and Northern Ireland would be subject to additional EU single market rules.

(This version of the story was refiled to remove extraneous words in second paragraph)

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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