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Marine Raider killed in Camp Pendleton crash ID’d

A 29-year-old Marine Raider has been identified as the victim of a deadly crash during training at a Southern California base over the weekend.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica was injured Saturday when an MRZR tactical vehicle he was driving rolled over during an exercise at Camp Pendleton. He died at a local hospital the following day. Two other Marines suffered minor injuries.

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica.

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica. (United States Marine Corps)

Braica, of Sacramento, Calif., was a critical skills operator with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and was an eight-year veteran. He is survived by his wife and son.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

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Braica's death was the second tragedy at Camp Pendleton in less than a week. On April 11, the Marine Corps announced that 1st Lt. Matthew Kraft, who failed to return from a ski trip in the Sierra Nevada mountain range more than a month ago, had likely died of exposure.

Fox News' Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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After defeating Islamic State, Syrian Kurds eye political battle

Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd is pictured during an interview with Reuters, in Qamishli
FILE PHOTO: Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd is pictured during an interview with Reuters, in Qamishli, Syria January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said

March 12, 2019

By Ellen Francis

QAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) – Syrian Kurdish authorities that led the fight against Islamic State are prepping for their next battle: a political struggle to win international recognition for their autonomous region and aid to help it recover from the war.

Islamic State’s territorial defeat in Syria marks a critical moment for Kurdish forces who partnered with Washington to fight the jihadists. They now hope Western military allies will lend them political support.

Victory over Islamic State at Baghouz, a shred of land at the Iraqi border, will herald “a new phase”, said Badran Jia Kurd, advisor to the Kurdish-led administration running north and east Syria.

“There will be efforts and a struggle to gain political legitimacy for this administration … and towards finding a peaceful solution” to the Syrian conflict, he told Reuters during an interview in Qamishli.

The main Kurdish parties and their allies hold nearly a quarter of the country – the biggest chunk outside the hands of President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Their control is underpinned by a large military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads.

But while the SDF has developed close ties with the United States, Washington has balked at extending political recognition to the authorities seeking autonomous rule. The West has trodden carefully largely because of the concerns of Turkey, which sees the YPG as part of the outlawed Kurdish PKK movement that has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil for decades.

Just three months ago, Kurdish authorities were thrown into crisis when President Donald Trump abruptly announced his decision to withdraw U.S. forces. Washington has since partially reversed course, and now plans to leave 200 troops in northeast Syria along with about 800 to 1,500 troops from European allies.

Trump’s move drove the Kurdish-led administration to seek fresh talks with Assad via his key ally Russia. They hope for a political deal that would safeguard their autonomy and shield their region from Turkish attack.

LEFT OUT

Millions of Kurds live in territory straddling Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. In Iraq, they govern an autonomous region.

Kurdish leaders have consistently been left out of U.N. efforts toward ending Syria’s eight-year war. They have always insisted their aim is regional autonomy within a federal Syria, not independence. The West’s reluctance to engage politically with them remains a deep source of frustration.

“Honestly, until now, no clear, positive stance has taken shape … even from the actual partners that we fought side by side with,” Jia Kurd said.

Diplomatic efforts would focus on deepening relations with European allies, the United States and other countries in the coalition that has been fighting Islamic State, he said.

He added that foreign states need to help rebuild infrastructure and revive the economy to prevent an Islamic State resurgence or invasion by hostile forces – an apparent reference to Turkey.

Jia Kurd said nascent contacts with Damascus had stalled and accused the Syrian government of a refusal to negotiate.

In a speech last month, Assad warned Kurdish fighters not to rely on Washington and said only the state could protect them.

Assad, now controlling most of the country with Russia and Iran’s help, has pledged to recover every inch.

Jia Kurd said the rhetoric had killed hopes for dialogue and could lead to “a dangerous and catastrophic direction” toward conflict that the administration in the north does not want.

(Editing by Tom Perry)

Source: OANN

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Brian Stelter Gets Roasted For Saying It’s Not CNN’s Job to “Investigate”

CNN host Brian Stelter got roasted on Twitter after he quoted president Jeff Zucker’s claim that it’s not CNN journalists’ job to ‘investigate’.

“CNN prez Jeff Zucker: “We are not investigators. We are journalists, and our role is to report the facts as we know them, which is exactly what we did,” tweeted Stelter in response to the heat CNN and other mainstream media outlets have been receiving for their role in pushing the Russian collusion hoax.

Stelter’s tweet got ‘ratioed’ – with over 15,000 responses compared to just 1,100 retweets, with many pointing out that the job of journalists is literally to investigate things.

“For real Brian, in what world does this help you or CNN? asked Mike Cernovich. “CNN prez Jeff Zucker: “We are not investigators.” I’m trying bro. Help us understand. “We are not investigators.” How doesn’t this expose everyone at CNN as scribes for people in government?”

Another respondent pointed out that CNN literally hired BuzzFeed’s K-File to, well, investigate things.

Stelter subsequently blocked Jack Posobiec after Posobiec called him out.

“We’re not investigators, we’re not journalists, we’re worker bees for the primary media propaganda wing of the DNC…” THAT at least would’ve been an honest assessment of fake news central!” commented David Wohl.

Not a single member of the mainstream media has apologized or been disciplined for their role in pushing a dangerous conspiracy theory – the Russian collusion hoax – that divided the country and undermined democracy.

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Source: InfoWars

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Bank of America names new co-heads of UK investment banking

FILE PHOTO: A Bank of America logo is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City
FILE PHOTO: A Bank of America logo is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

March 11, 2019

By Pamela Barbaglia

LONDON (Reuters) – Bank of America has appointed James Robertson and Peter Luck as co-heads of UK investment banking as part of its push to win business from large corporate clients in Britain.

These latest appointments show the U.S. bank’s commitment to build up its business in the country despite Brexit.

The newly created roles, detailed in a memo seen by Reuters, follow departures from the bank in the past few months, including that of Bank of America’s head of global investment banking Diego De Giorgi and his boss Christian Meissner.

The Wall Street bank appointed Matthew Koder last year to succeed Meissner and revitalize its corporate and investment banking business after a slide in fees.

De Giorgi was replaced by Jack MacDonald and Thomas Sheehan who are co-heads of global investment banking out of the United States.

Robertson is joining Bank of America from UBS after a 22-year career at the Swiss bank where he recently headed its UK advisory business.

Luck worked closely with Robertson at UBS where he spent 13 years before moving to Bank of America to help to build its corporate broking franchise in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

He is currently heading the bank’s corporate broking business and will retain these responsibilities in addition to his new role.

The two bankers also served in the same British Army regiment – the Royal Dragoon Guards – in the mid 1990s, before starting their respective careers in investment banking.

They will report to Matt Cannon and Richard King who are co-heads of UK & Ireland Corporate and Investment Banking and Luigi Rizzo, head of EMEA Investment Banking.

Bank of America has won some lucrative business recently from some of Britain’s biggest companies, including Vodafone where the bank led a 3.4 billion pound mandatory convertible bond – the largest ever UK equity-linked offering and largest ever European mandatory convertible bond.

It also advised drugs group GSK on its $4.9 billion acquisition of Tesaro and helped Unilever with its $4.6 billion purchase of Horlicks India from GSK.

Bank of America has also been expanding its team in Paris ahead of Brexit and transferring London-based executives, including Rizzo to the French capital. On Feb. 8, it named Sanaz Zaimi as head of its new Paris-based European Union broker-dealer unit BofA Securities Europe.

(Reporting By Pamela Barbaglia. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Japan’s PM vows to help France in rebuilding Notre Dame

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pledging to help France rebuild the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral.

Abe stopped in France Tuesday as part of his tour of Europe and North America.

Speaking alongside French president Emmanuel Macron, Abe said through a translator he "was deeply saddened by the damage inflicted to the World Heritage" building.

He said the Japanese government "will spare no effort to bring its cooperation" in the reconstruction.

Macron and Abe will discuss the agenda for the upcoming Group of Seven and Group of 20 leaders' summits that France and Japan will respectively host this year.

In their statement at the Elysee palace, they said they will also talk about boosting economic growth through free trade, and address issues including North Korea and plastic waste in ocean.

Source: Fox News World

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Clinton, in newly revealed emails, discussed classified foreign policy matters, secretive 'private' comms channel with Israel

A newly unearthed batch of heavily redacted, classified emails from Hillary Clinton's personal email server revealed that the former secretary of state discussed establishing a "private, 100% off-the-record" back channel to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that one of her top aides warned her that she was in "danger" of being "savaged by Jewish organizations, in the Jewish press and among the phalanx of neoconservative media" as a result of political machinations by "Bibi and the Jewish leadership."

The 756-page group of new documents, revealed Thursday as part of a transparency lawsuit by Judicial Watch, seemingly contradicted Clinton's insistence under oath in 2015 that she had turned over all of her sensitive work-related emails to the State Department, and included a slew of classified communications on everything from foreign policy to State Department personnel matters.

The files came from a trove of 72,000 documents the FBI recovered and turned over to the State Department in 2017.

The documents, representing a small proportion of the tens of thousands of emails still unaccounted for from Clinton's server, also underscored the apparently significant political threat that the Obama administration felt it faced at the hands of Israel.

Additionally, according to the email dump, Clinton chatted with former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair about foreign policy before she was sworn in, aided the application of at least one State Department applicant who was connected to her daughter, Chelsea, and apparently met with Putin-aligned Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili before he became prime minister on a staunchly pro-Russian platform -- and with reported help from a Russian interference operation. Ivanishvili pointedly did not criticize Putin during his campaign, despite Putin's invasion of Georgia years earlier -- and in 2012, Ivanishvili made headlines for refusing to meet with Clinton unless it was a one-on-one sitdown.

Emails between Clinton and Tony Blair, seen here, were released.

Emails between Clinton and Tony Blair, seen here, were released. (Reuters, File)

In some of her conversations with Blair -- which included a classified 2011 conversation on foreign policy, and another classified 2011 conversation concerning a "speech" -- Clinton apparently discussed job-related topics on January 16, 2009 -- while George W. Bush was still president but after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had approved her for the job. In one email thread with the subject line "Re: Gaza," dated January 16, 2009, Blair said he wanted to have a matter "resolved before Tuesday," apparently referring to Obama's inauguration.

Clinton replied: “Tony – We are finally moving and I am looking forward to talking w you as soon as I’m confirmed, tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. Your emails are very helpful so pls continue to use this address,” hr15@att.blackberry.net."

FBI GENERAL COUNSEL THOUGHT CLINTON SHOULD FACE PROSECUTION UNTIL 'PRETTY LATE' IN PROBE

Blair responded: “It would be great if we could talk before any announcements are made.”

Democrats have long criticized former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for speaking with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump had been inaugurated, saying the contacts may have violated an obscure 1799 law called the Logan Act, which ostensibly bars private citizens from negotiating with foreign powers on behalf of the U.S. without authorization. The provision has never been invoked in a prosecution, and historians have suggested the law made more sense in an era without the instant communications technology that would enable a foreign power to recognize whether U.S. representatives are formally affiliated with the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, according to the documents, Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane sent Clinton a heavily redacted, classified email concerning Israel and Syria policy, seemingly in 2009 -- on a topic so urgent that Keane noted he had tried to call Clinton personally before sending it.

Separately, two email chains showed the apparently close coordination between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation, which has long been accused by Republicans of operating essentially as a corrupt "pay-to-play" operation that effectively sold access to the Obama administration. Donations to the Clinton Foundation plummeted after Clinton's 2016 election loss.

In one email thread, top Clinton aides at the State Department, including Huma Abedin, coordinated a trip to Haiti with Clinton Foundation officials, including Clinton Foundation Director of Advance John Zimmerebner. Bill and Hillary Clinton were headed to Haiti to promote the Caracol Industrial Park, a $300M project funded by U.S. taxpayers through USAID that was heavily promoted to investors by the Clinton Foundation. Slate later called the park a "disappointment by any measure," noting it had no discernible positive impact on Haiti's economy and created tens of thousands fewer jobs than anticipated.

DOJ REACHED AGREEMENT WITH CLINTON LAWYERS THAT BLOCKED FBI FROM ACCESSING CLINTON FOUNDATION EMAILS, STRZOK ADMITS

And, Clinton Foundation employee Sidney Blumenthal sent Clinton a proposal from a former CIA officer concerning improvised-explosive devices, which Blumenthal called a "terrific project." Blumenthal told Clinton the CIA officer had been “unable to break through the bureaucracy with" the proposal.

In closed-door testimony last year, former FBI special agent Peter Strzok acknowledged that the Justice Department "negotiated" an agreement with Clinton's legal team that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation, even as they probed her handling of classified information.

Sidney Blumenthal.

Sidney Blumenthal. (Reuters, File)

In a particularly striking January 2009 email uncovered by Judicial Watch, Blumenthal, citing sources, told Clinton that "Jewish institutional leaders" were working to derail President Obama's appointment of George Mitchell as Special Envoy to the Middle East. Citing the same sources, Blumenthal warned Clinton that "every one of your conversations and communications with Bibi Netanyahu flows directly and instantly back to top Jewish leadership ... You should, of course, assume that nothing involving him is private."

Blumenthal, attaching a memo titled "Good Cop, Bad Cop," said Mitchell was "politically vulnerable" because he was of “Arab descent," and was facing attacks "carefully scripted" by top Jewish leaders. Blumenthal advised Clinton and Obama to bring aboard a "bad cop" who was a “political appointee, Jewish, considered a true friend of Israel" to help resist the attacks.

Blumenthal invoked former Secretary of State James Baker, saying he was "savaged by Jewish organizations, in the Jewish press and among the phalanx of neoconservative media" for taking a tough stance on Israel that "stunned the Israelis."

"You are always in danger of being maneuvered into Baker's position," Blumenthal wrote to Clinton. "Mitchell is even more immediately in danger. Gen. Jones, widely distrusted by Jewish leadership, is wisely keeping a very low profile, but to the extent he emerges will be in danger and targeted as Baker redux ( and Scowcroft's stalking horse).

Blumenthal added: "Bibi and the Jewish leadership should be expected to use political means, including outsourcing personal attacks, to counter moves the administration seeks in any peace process or initiating any negotiations. As you know, Bibi is deeply connected to political networks in the US-media, Jewish groups, Republican leaders, and right-wing Christian right organizations."

Cheryl Mills, seen here in 2015, was Hillary Clinton's chief of staff while Clinton was secretary of state.

Cheryl Mills, seen here in 2015, was Hillary Clinton's chief of staff while Clinton was secretary of state. (REUTERS, File)

Clinton replied: “Thanks for these. And I will call you in the next few days.”

In a classified September 2010 email exchange, Clinton adviser Lanny Davis seemingly hit on the same notes of concern as Blumenthal and offered to provide Clinton a “private and highly trusted communication line, unofficial and personal, to PM N[etanyahu]. ... [N]o one on the planet (other than your wonderful husband) can get this done as well as you...”

In response, Clinton wrote, “I will reach out to you directly and hope you will continue to do the same w me. The most important issue now is [Redacted].”

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But, a week later, Davis seemingly changed his mind, telling Clinton: “As soon as I wrote last email, I reverted to my old role as your crisis manager and worrier about you, read the word ‘optics’ I suddenly felt – oops. I am registered under FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] for one or more foreign governments or businesses. I don’t think it would look right. I want to avoid any even slight chance of misperception.”

That prompted Clinton to respond, "Thx for looking out for me, my friend. I’ll tell [Chief of Staff] Cheryl [Mills] to stand down.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Trump put more women in top roles than Obama, Bush, Clinton

It’s no secret that President Trump can be brash about women. He described porn star Stormy Daniels as a “Horseface,” and mocked Rosie O’Donnell as a fat pig and “total loser.”

Trump also fessed up to “locker room talk” about how he likes to “grab them by the pussy.”

But the president’s actions speak much louder than his words.

Despite a few crude comments, Trump put more women in top advisory roles in his administration than any of the last three presidents, a powerful statement some believe is overshadowed by the media’s relentless focus on vilifying the president’s every move.

“I don’t think it’s gotten as much attention as the fact that he’s said things that are sexist,” Augusta University professor Mary-Kate Lizotte, an expert on women in politics, told The Washington Examiner. “It might not have as much of an effect because of negative coverage.”

The Examiner reports:

At the beginning of the third year of his first term as president, Trump has seven female top advisers, as compared to five for Obama, three for Bush, and five for Clinton at that point. He had eight as of December 2018, when United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley departed the administration.

The top advisers are White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway; CIA Director Gina Haspel, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, senior adviser Ivanka Trump, Director of Legislative Affairs Shahira Knight, and Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry gave a statement on the current power of corporations and what may lie ahead for Big Tech. Gerald Celente joins Alex to discuss solutions as America wakes up to Big Tech tyranny.

Those in Trump’s inner circle are only some of the women that have served in the administration, with others including Haley and former communications director Hope Hicks playing key roles early on.

Last May, the president appointed Gina Haspel as the head of the CIA, the first woman to ever hold that post, Fox News reports.

There’s also women serving in important cabinet positions, such as Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, as well as women moving up through the ranks.

“Trump reportedly will also nominate more women to powerful positions soon, such as U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft for U.N. ambassador and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu for associate attorney general, a key post currently held by Rod Rosenstein,” according to the Examiner.

Schlapp said it’s obvious Trump “surrounds himself with very strong women with strong voices” and he respects their opinions on all types of issues.

An unnamed former senior White House official contends the president cares more about results than gender.

“He treats people equally,” the official said. “He values merit and quality of work, regardless of any other attributes including gender.”

Schlapp dismissed the relentless allegations Trump is a misogynist as “outrageous.”

“I have always felt respected by the president,” she said. “He is someone who values my opinion and insight. Those of us who work with him get to see his compassion.”

Despite the progress for women, some of the president’s critics remain devoted to spinning the issue into a negative and allege Trump’s female advisors are nothing more than “tools for his benefit.”

Boston University professor Tammy Vigil, a self-professed expert on gender in politics, told the Examiner it belittles women to work for the president because they’re allegedly forced to “work around the truth.”

“It compromises their integrity,” she said. “They have to sort of give up their own honesty and integrity in order to serve the male president, which is not a good look for women, even if they are in positions of power.”

“Why is he hiring these women?” she questioned. “He’s getting something out of it.”

Source: InfoWars

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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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