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Saudi crown prince meets Chinese official on Beijing visit

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has met with a Chinese vice premier in a bid to strengthen relations in the face of criticism from the West over the kingdom's human rights record and its war in Yemen.

Prince Mohammed held bilateral talks Friday with Han Zheng at the Great Hall of the People before presiding at a China-Saudi cooperation forum and accompanying signing ceremony.

The prince meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping later Friday, highlighting Saudi Arabia's importance as one of China's top oil suppliers and a market for its exports, including military drones.

The crown prince's trip comes five months after he came under intense pressure in the U.S. and elsewhere following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Source: Fox News World

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Strike 2: West Virginia teachers walking out again

Almost a year to the day after West Virginia teachers went on strike that launched a national movement, they're doing it again.

Nearly all of West Virginia's 55 counties have called off public school classes Tuesday as teachers protest education legislation that their unions view as lacking their input and as retaliation for last year's nine-day strike. That walkout launched the national movement that included strikes in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Washington state, and more recently, Los Angeles and Denver.

Now the movement has come full circle.

Leaders of three unions for teachers and school service workers say how long this one goes on will be a day-to-day decision.

An amended bill that the Senate passed Monday now goes back to the House of Delegates. Among other things, it would create the state's first charter schools.

Source: Fox News National

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Dollar rises as more central banks turn dovish, defies lower Treasury yields

FILE PHOTO: A packet of Lincoln five dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington
FILE PHOTO: A packet of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln five-dollar bill currency is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron/File Photo

March 28, 2019

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar rose on Thursday as many of its peers weakened after more central banks opted to shift to a dovish policy stance in the wake of deteriorating economic prospects.

The latest switch came from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), which stunned markets on Wednesday by saying the next move in rates is likely to be down, joining a growing list of central banks that had turned dovish.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was 0.17 percent higher at 96.942 and headed for its third day of gains.

With many of its peers going on the defensive, the dollar has been able to brush aside a decline by benchmark U.S. Treasury yields to 15-month lows.

“Treasury yields are indeed lower. But this isn’t impacting the dollar very much as Treasury yields are still at attractive levels relative to those in the euro zone and now New Zealand, which has just turned dovish,” said Takuya Kanda.

“So it is currencies like the euro, which is being dragged down by negative German yields, and the New Zealand dollar, which are suffering losses and allowing the dollar to rise in turn.”

The euro was a touch higher at $1.1252. The single currency has still lost 0.45 percent this week with the benchmark 10-year bund yield having fallen to 2-1/2-year low of minus 0.09 percent.

The euro’s upside was limited after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said a hike in interest rates could be further delayed.

Growth-sensitive currencies have taken a beating recently on rising risks to the global economy, highlighted by the shakeout in U.S. bond yields which signaled a future recession there.

The New Zealand dollar was down 0.2 percent at $0.6786, stretching losses from the previous day’s 1.6 percent slide.

The Australian dollar, which often moves in sympathy with the kiwi, slipped 0.1 percent to $0.7077. The Reserve Bank of Australia had last month abandoned its long-held tightening bias, and markets there are pricing in a cut this year.

The Aussie had shed nearly 0.7 percent on Wednesday along with the plummeting kiwi.

The pound lost 0.1 percent to $1.3172 after going as low as $1.3143 earlier on Thursday.

Sterling was on the back foot after an offer by British Prime Minister Theresa May to quit to get her European Union divorce deal through parliament failed to win over key opponents of the agreement. [GBP/]

The dollar slipped 0.15 percent to 110.34 yen but managed to stay clear of a six-week trough of 109.70 plumbed on Monday.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield slipped to 2.342 percent, its lowest since December 2017 on worries about a global recession and after the RBNZ embraced a dovish tone on interest rates. [US/]

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Exclusive: Israel’s chip sales to China jump as Intel expands

FILE PHOTO: Intel logo is seen behind LED lights in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: Intel logo is seen behind LED lights in this illustration taken January 5, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

March 19, 2019

By Tova Cohen and Steven Scheer

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel’s exports of computer chips to China soared last year as Chinese companies bought more semiconductors made at Intel’s Kiryat Gat plant.

An official at the Israel Export Institute told Reuters that new data showed semiconductor exports to China jumped 80 percent last year to $2.6 billion. An industry source told Reuters that Intel Israel accounted for at least 80 percent of those sales.

The data will be welcome news for the Israeli government as it pushes for deeper ties with China and because semiconductors accounted for $3.9 billion of overall goods exports in 2018, according to the institute, a government agency.

The two countries have started negotiating a trade deal and technology is expected to be a major part of the discussions. Overall exports of Israeli goods to China, excluding diamonds, rose 50 percent to $4.7 billion, statistics.

Intel announced a $5 billion investment to expand capacity in its Kiryat Gat plant in southern Israel in 2017, which makes some of the smallest and fastest chips in the world.

That year it also bought Israeli auto-focused chip and technology firm Mobileye for $15 billion. It said this year it would invest $11 billion in a new Israeli plant.

A spokesman for Intel said the firm exported $3.9 billion worth of goods from Israel last year, up from $3.6 billion in 2017. He declined to give further details of Intel’s operations in Israel.

Chinese officials have said they are looking to develop a domestic chip market because Chinese companies import $270 billion of semiconductors each year. Israel has a reputation for exporting high-end chips.

Israel’s export institute also said sales to China of inspection equipment for semiconductor manufacturing jumped 64 percent to $450 million last year.

That equipment is used to control and inspect manufacturing processes in semiconductor plants and is useful for China as its domestic chip manufacturing increases.

Companies in Israel making such equipment include Orbotech, which was just acquired by fellow semiconductor equipment maker KLA-Tencor of California for about $3.4 billion.

That deal was announced a year ago but was held up by Chinese regulators, who only gave their approval in February.

PIVOT TO ASIA

China is now Israel’s second largest export market for goods after the United States, having overtaken Britain last year.

Sales of semiconductors to the United States slipped 20 percent to $860 million, contributing to a 3 percent drop in goods exports. But at $10.9 billion, overall goods exports still dwarf those to China.

Israel has been pivoting its economy toward Asia in the past few years both because of perceived political hostility in some European countries and the fact that Asian markets are growing rapidly.

In recent years, Chinese-based airlines have started direct flights to Tel Aviv, the two countries signed a visa agreement and are working on the trade deal. Israel is also in talks for free trade agreements with Vietnam and South Korea.

Some analysts in China expect the ties to get stronger due to the tit-for-tat trade war between the United States, a major chip producer, and China.

“Because of the trade war, China and Israel’s cooperation is closer than it has been before,” said Gu Wenjun, chief analyst at ICWise, a semiconductor consultancy in Shanghai.

“Israel has the technology and China has the market – the space for cooperation is big.”

Eyal Waldman, founder and CEO of Israeli chipmaker Mellanox, said his company was benefiting from China’s policies.

“In China they prefer to use Chinese silicon and then after that non-U.S. silicon and only if they don’t have that then U.S. silicon, so we are benefiting from that,” he told Reuters.

“We are seeing better growth in China.”

Mellanox agreed this week to sell itself to California-based chipmaker Nvidia Corp for almost $7 billion. Intel lost the bidding war to Nvidia. Russell Ellwanger, the CEO of another major chip manufacturer TowerJazz, said his company’s growth in China “is very, very strong”.

(Additional reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghai and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; editing by Anna Willard)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Witness: Rear of plane was smoking before impact

The Latest on Ethiopian Airlines crash (all times local):

11:20 p.m.

A witness to the Ethiopian Airlines crash says smoke was coming from the rear of the plane before it hit the ground, killing 157 people on board.

Tamrat Abera tells The Associated Press the plane rotated twice before crashing and exploding. Smoke rose high into the sky.

An international team of investigators led by Ethiopian authorities is looking into the cause of Sunday's crash. Several countries and companies grounded their Boeing 737 Max 8 fleets out of caution.

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9:50 p.m.

A U.N. official says thousands stood in silent tribute to victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash at the opening of the U.N. Environment Program's Assembly in Nairobi on Monday. Some people who had been traveling to the meeting were among the 157 dead.

Assistant Secretary-General Satya Tripathi tells reporters that "there's a lot of grief that's not just for the U.N. colleagues but ... because there have been losses on the side of member state delegations, the civil society community and others as well."

Tripathi said there is a "renewed resolve" to do what more than 4,700 attendees had come to do: "preserve the cause of the environment and the planet."

The U.N. secretary-general and presidents of France and Kenya are expected to attend this week.

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9:05 p.m.

An official at Royal Air Maroc says Morocco has halted the commercial use of its sole operational Boeing 737 Max 8, pending tests and examinations of the airplane after the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday.

The official, who spoke anonymously in line with his department rules, said the plane was scheduled to fly on Monday from Casablanca to London but was replaced.

The official said the plane, in use since December, was undergoing an "inspection and verification" procedure by a Moroccan team and would be operational after tests are done.

The official said Royal Air Maroc received a second Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane a few days ago, part of a deal with Boeing for acquiring a total of four.

A number of airlines have grounded the planes.

____

8:10 p.m.

Comair, the operator of British Airways and Kulula flights in South Africa says it has grounded its Boeing 737 Max 8 while it consults with Boeing, other operators and technical experts.

A statement does not say how many planes are affected. It says the decision was made without intervention from regulatory authorities.

Comair joins a number of other airlines in grounding the planes after Sunday's deadly crash in Ethiopia.

Wrenelle Stander, executive director of Comair's airline division, says in the statement that Comair "remains confident in the inherent safety of the aircraft."

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6 p.m.

The United Nations secretary-general says at least 21 U.N. staff members died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday along with an undetermined number of people who had worked closely with the world body.

Antonio Guterres spoke at the opening of the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, which began with hundreds of delegates standing in silent tribute to the 157 victims.

The U.N. Security Council also began its meeting on Afghanistan with diplomats standing in honor of those who perished.

Guterres said that "a global tragedy has hit close to home and the United Nations is united in grief."

He said the U.N. staff members came from all corners of the globe and that "they all had one thing in common — a spirit to serve the people of the world and to make it a better place for us all."

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5 p.m.

A Greek man who narrowly missed the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed near Addis Ababa on Sunday says he argued with ground staff to try and board after reaching the gate minutes too late.

"I saw the last passengers going through but the gate had already closed. I complained, in the usual way when that kind of thing happens. But they were very kind and placed me on another flight," Antonis Mavropoulos told Greece's private Skai Television, speaking from Nairobi.

Mavropoulos, who runs a recycling company and lives in Athens, was traveling to Kenya to attend an environmental conference.

"I'm slowly coming to terms with what happened and how close it came. On the other hand, I'm also very upset — I'm shattered — for those who were lost," he said in the interview Monday. "To be honest, I didn't get much sleep last night."

Mavropoulos put his survival down to luck.

"I didn't check my suitcase because I knew the gap between connecting flights was tight. If I had checked the bag in, they would have waited for me," he said. "This is a very difficult moment — one that can change your life."

___

4:45 p.m.

Ethiopia's state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate cites the United States ambassador as saying a six-member team of U.S. aviation experts are on their way to the site of Sunday's crash.

Ambassador Michael Raynor visited the crash site on Monday. He told the broadcaster that the experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive at the site on Tuesday.

He says that "Boeing and Interpol will also assist the Ethiopian government in the investigation. Interpol will assist in identifying the victims."

The flight data recorder and voice cockpit recorder have been found.

___

4:35 p.m.

Ugandan authorities say a senior police officer is among the dead in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash on Sunday.

Ugandan police say they are mourning Christine Alalo, who served as police commissioner under the banner of the African Union mission in Somalia.

The statement calls her "a highly respected member of the force who loved her job."

Alalo was returning from a trip to Italy. She is the lone Ugandan who died in the crash. All 157 on board were killed.

___

4:20 p.m.

A German pastor and an aid worker from Germany are among the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday.

The World Council of Churches says Rev. Norman Tendis was traveling to a U.N. environment summit in Nairobi. The 51-year-old worked in Villach, Austria.

The German development aid organization GIZ confirms that a staffer was on the plane. Spokeswoman Tanja Stumpff tells The Associated Press that the woman was on a business trip.

Germany's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that at least five German citizens died in the crash.

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4:05 p.m.

Catholic Relief Services announces "with heavy hearts" that four of its Ethiopian colleagues died in Sunday's plane crash outside Addis Ababa.

The aid group in a statement says Sara Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu, Sintayehu Aymeku, and Mulusew Alemu had been traveling to Nairobi for training.

The four had worked with the organization for as long as a decade. They worked in procurement, logistics and finance.

All 157 people on board were killed. They came from 35 countries.

___

3:30 p.m.

There are scenes of agony as members of an association of Ethiopian airline pilots cry uncontrollably for colleagues killed in Sunday's crash near Addis Ababa.

Framed photographs of seven crew members sit in chairs at the front of a crowded room.

One pilot says he had planned to watch a soccer game between Manchester and Arsenal with the flight's main pilot, Yared Getachew.

It was Getachew who issued a distress call shortly after takeoff and was told to return. But all contact was lost.

Another pilot says he flew with Yared several times and said they even lived together before becoming senior pilots.

___

3:15 p.m.

Pope Francis has sent his condolences to the families of the victims of the plane crash in Ethiopia.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, said in a statement Monday that the pope was sad to learn about the crash and "offers prayers for the deceased from various countries and commends their souls to the mercy of Almighty God."

The statement said, "Pope Francis sends heartfelt condolences to their families, and upon all who mourn this tragic loss he invokes the divine blessings of consolation and strength."

___

3 p.m.

Shares of Boeing are tumbling before the opening of U.S. markets following the crash in Ethiopia of a Boeing 737 Max 8, the second deadly crash since October.

All 157 people on board were killed on Sunday. A Lion Air model of the same plane crashed in Indonesia last year, killing 189 people.

Shares of Boeing Co. plunged more than 9 percent in premarket trading Monday. If that trend holds, it could be one of the company's worst trading days in about a decade.

Indonesia and China have grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines and Cayman Airways are doing the same.

___

1:35 p.m.

Ethiopia's state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reports that the black box has been found from the crashed Ethiopian Airlines plane.

An airline official, however, tells The Associated Press that the box is partially damaged and that "we will see what we can retrieve from it."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.

The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday en route to Nairobi.

___

1:20 p.m.

China says two United Nations workers were among the eight Chinese nationals killed on the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang says the other Chinese passengers included four who were working for a Chinese company and two who had travelled to Ethiopia for "private matters."

All 157 people on board the flight to Nairobi died.

Lu said Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders have sent condolence messages to their Ethiopian counterparts. China has extended condolences to victims' families.

China has ordered its airlines to ground their Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts by 6 p.m.

___

12:45 p.m.

The United Nations migration agency said that one of its staffers, German citizen Anne-Katrin Feigl, was on the plane en route to a training course in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and the plane's destination.

Germany's foreign ministry has officially confirmed that five victims of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 157 people were German citizens.

The ministry said in a statement Monday that it was in contact with the families of the victims. It did not reveal any information on the identity of those who died in the crash Sunday.

All in all, 35 countries had someone among the 157 people who were killed. All people on board died minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa.

___

12 p.m.

The U.N. office in Nairobi is joining Ethiopia in mourning the 157 dead in Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines crash shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa.

A moment of silence and U.N. flags at half-staff marked the deaths that included several workers with U.N. and affiliated organizations.

The U.N. resident coordinator in Nairobi, Siddharth Chatterjee, says that "This has taken us by shock. ... But it also goes to reinforce the mortality of human life and therefore reinforces the need for humanity."

He says U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent "a poignant message of condolences to everybody, not just the U.N. staff but the crew of the flight and all other nationalities which were on the plane."

People from 35 countries died.

___

10 a.m.

A spokesman says Ethiopian Airlines has grounded all its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as a safety precaution, following the crash of one of its planes in which 157 people were killed.

Asrat Begashaw said Monday that although it is not yet known what caused the crash on Sunday, the airline decided to ground its remaining four 737 Max 8 planes until further notice as "an extra safety precaution." Ethiopian Airlines was using five new 737 Max 8 planes and was awaiting delivery of 25 more.

Begashaw said searching and digging to uncover body parts and aircraft debris will continue. He said forensic experts from Israel have arrived in Ethiopia to help with the investigation.

Source: Fox News World

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Comey says he had ‘no idea what the heck’ Barr meant by saying ‘spying did occur’ on Trump campaign

Former FBI Director James Comey said he has “no idea what the heck” Attorney General William Barr meant when he said there was “spying” on the Trump campaign in 2016.

Comey made the comment at the Hewlett Foundation’s Verify Conference Thursday, according to the Daily Beast.

He reportedly added, “The only thing I can say generally is that I think his career has earned him (Barr) a presumption that he will be one of the rare Trump cabinet members who will stand up for truth and facts...language like this makes it harder, but I still think he’s entitled to that presumption.”

COMEY MEMOS CONTAINED FAR MORE SENSITIVE INFO THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN, FBI FILING REVEALS

Comey echoed the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies Thursday, saying Russia intervened in the 2016 election to damage American democracy and bolster Trump, which Russian officials have denied, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet reported Comey said Thursday that Trump's “denial of a fundamental attack” on the U.S. and his silence is an invitation for it to happen again.

When Comey was asked what he would do differently in 2013, the year he was sworn in to what was slated to be a 10-year term, he joked, “Can I decline to accept the appointment as FBI director?”

Comey's statements come one day after Barr testified that he believes "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign in 2016, as he vowed to review the conduct of the FBI's original Russia probe -- and the focus of a related internal review shifted to the role of a key FBI informant.

BARR TESTIFIES 'SPYING DID OCCUR' ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AMID REPORTED REVIEW OF INFORMANT'S ROLE

"I think spying did occur," Barr said during the explosive hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. "The question is whether it was adequately predicated. …Spying on a political campaign is a big deal."

Barr's comments followed a new report that the Justice Department’s internal watchdog is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who contacted members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, as part of a broader review of the early stages of the Russia investigation.

The New York Times reported that Justice Department Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz is looking into informant Stefan Halper’s work during the Russia probe, as well as his work with the FBI prior to the start of that probe.

During the 2016 campaign, Halper, an American professor who reportedly is deeply connected with British and American intelligence agencies, contacted several members of the Trump campaign, including former aide Carter Page.

Page also was the subject of several Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants during the campaign -- an issue at the heart of the IG's investigation. Republicans, including President Trump, have alleged misconduct in the bureau and the Justice Department’s handling of those FISA warrants.

Page was never charged with any wrongdoing.

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Barr said a review of the separate DOJ IG investigation into potential FISA abuses by the FBI, which is expected to look at whether the bureau improperly presented misleading sources or withheld exculpatory information in its presentations to the FISA court, is likely to be completed by May or June.

Fox News’ Gregg Re, Brooke Singman and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Australia jury hears cardinal's side in police interview

Cardinal George Pell once blamed his wooden public persona on the self-discipline required to contain "a formidable temper."

That anger bubbled through the former Vatican finance minister's composure as he was interviewed by Australian police in a conference room at the Hilton Airport Hotel in Rome on Oct. 19, 2016. Det. Sgt. Chris Reed for the first time detailed to Pell allegations that he had orally raped two choirboys in Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral while he was archbishop of Australia's second-largest city 20 years earlier.

Pell appeared incredulous, distressed and outraged. He grimaced and waved his arms over his head, crossed them tightly across his chest and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that one of the alleged victims leveled against him a year earlier.

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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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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