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NYCFC looks for answers vs. red-hot LAFC

MLS: Sporting Kansas City at Los Angeles FC
Mar 3, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; LAFC players pose for a team photo before the game against the Sporting KC at Banc of California Stadium. LAFC defeated SKC 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

March 16, 2019

Los Angeles FC made an impressive MLS debut last season when it boasted one of the league’s most productive offenses.

After finishing second in the MLS with 68 goals last season, LAFC is off to a strong start two weeks in.

LAFC will attempt to keep the offense rolling Sunday afternoon when it visits NYCFC, which is coming off two frustrating draws.

LAFC’s six goals entering the third week of the week are tied with the Seattle Sounders and Minnesota United for the league lead. Forward Adama Diomande is among 11 players with two goals and fellow forward Carlos Vela is among six players with two assists entering this week.

Both players figured prominently last Sunday when LAFC scored three times after halftime in a 4-1 home win over Portland. Diomande scored in the 65th minute while Vela had two assists and scored in the 68th minute.

“I think we’re just all bought in,” forward Christian Ramirez said. “We’re just growing from what we had last year and we’re continuing to believe in the style of soccer that (coach) Bob (Bradley) wants us to play and that we’re capable of playing.”

NYCFC is winless through two games for the second time in its five-year history after a frustrating 0-0 draw with DC United last Sunday in its home opener. The one point NYCFC picked up occurred after it opened the season by allowing two goals in the second half and settling for a 2-2 draw at Orlando City in the season opener on March 3.

Last week, NYCFC could not score despite totaling 21 shots and controlling possession for 63 percent of the match.

“We have to make build up, we have to improve when we have the ball. In my opinion, we play much better when we keep the ball and pass the ball,” NYCFC coach Dome Torrent said. “I like to take possession of the ball but with the mentality to score. When you pass the ball in the right moment – you have to attack. That’s for me, the best way to play soccer.”

NYCFC has 34 shots through its first two games with 12 by newcomer Alexandru Mitrita.

Sunday will be the second meeting between the clubs. In a 2-2 tie in Los Angeles on May 13, Vela gave LAFC a one-goal lead in the 65th minute but Ismael Tajouri-Shradi came off the bench and scored the tying goal in the 75th minute.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Nadler says there is ‘plenty of evidence of obstruction’ in Mueller report, believes Don Jr. should have been charged

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-NY, argued on Sunday that, despite Special Counsel Robert Mueller deciding not to charge President Trump with obstruction of justice, he believes there is still plenty of evidence of obstruction by the president.

Nadler, who filed a subpoena Friday for Mueller’s full, unredacted report, said that Mueller only restrained from charging Trump with obstruction of justice because of the longstanding Justice Department opinion that a sitting president can’t be indicted.

“Mueller says that although a thorough FBI investigation might very well show evidence of obstruction of justice with the president, ‘we’re not going to do that because of the Department of Justice’s legal opinion that a president, a sitting president, can't be indicted and it would be unfair to lay out the facts justifying an indictment without giving the president the opportunity and a trial to clear his name,’” Nadler said on Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

NADLER REQUESTS MUELLER TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ‘AS SOON AS POSSIBLE’

He added: “[Attorney General William] Barr misinterpreted that, or misrepresented that I should say, to say they didn't find obstruction. There’s plenty of evidence of obstruction.”

Nadler expects the Justice Department to comply with his committee's subpoena for the full report by May 1.

That's the same day Barr is set to testify before a Senate committee and one day before he is to appear before Nadler's panel. Nadler also has summoned Mueller to testify by May 23.

A Justice Department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupac, called Nadler's move "premature and unnecessary."

Barr sent Congress a redacted version of the Mueller report, blacking out several types of material, including classified information, material pertaining to ongoing investigations and grand jury evidence.

Nadler last week said he was open to working with the department on accommodations, but he also said the committee "needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice."

SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT MUELLER'S RUSSIA PROBE REPORT RELEASED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Mueller laid out multiple episodes in which Trump directed others to influence or curtail the Russia investigation after the special counsel's appointment in May 2017, and Trump made clear that he viewed the probe as a potentially mortal blow — "the end of my presidency."

Nadler on Sunday questioned why Mueller did not level charges against the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., for taking a meeting with Russian operatives in Trump Tower to allegedly get compromising information on Trump’s 2016 Democratic presidential opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“I do not understand why he didn't charge Don Jr. and others in that famous meeting with criminal conspiracy,” Nadler said. “[Mueller] said that he didn't charge them because you couldn't prove that they didn't willfully intend to commit a crime, well you don't have to prove that.”

He added: "All you have to prove for conspiracy is that they entered into a meeting of the minds to do something and had one overt act. They entered into a meeting of the minds to attend a meeting to get stolen material on Hillary. They went to the meeting. That’s conspiracy right there."

The New York lawmaker also added that the idea of the House impeaching the president is still on the table even as some of his Democratic colleagues in the House have warned against any premature actions.

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“If proven some of this would be impeachable yes. Obstruction of justice, if proven, would be impeachable,” Nadler said. “We’re going to see where the facts lead us.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has insisted on a methodical, step-by-step approach to the House's oversight of the Trump administration, and she refuses to consider impeachment without public support, including from Republicans, which seems unlikely.

Speaking Friday in Belfast as Pelosi wrapped up a congressional visit to Ireland, she declined to signal action beyond Congress' role as a check and balance for the White House.

"Let me assure you that whatever the issue and challenge we face, the Congress of the United States will honor its oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States to protect our democracy," she told reporters. "We believe that the first article — Article 1, the legislative branch — has the responsibility of oversight of our democracy, and we will exercise that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Golf: Women get their day at Augusta but Burk still teeing off

MARTHA BURK CHAIRPERSON OF NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS ATRALLY IN AUGUSTA
FILE PHOTO: Martha Burk, (R), Chairperson of the National Council of Women's Organizations speaks during a rally near Augusta National golf course where the group is protesting the club's policy of no women members, in Augusta, Georgia on April 12, 2003. REUTERS/Tami Chappell

April 5, 2019

By Steve Keating

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) – Women will have their day at Augusta National on Saturday when the golf club, once ground zero in the gender equality battle, hosts the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA).

The word historic has been attached to the first ever competitive women’s round at the home of the Masters and the occasion will be given the full treatment, with NBC providing live coverage and Augusta National rolling out the pomp, ceremony and tradition that is its trademark.

The image of 30 women competing at a club which only seven years ago did not have a single female member is being held up as another small victory for equality.

Martha Burk, who put Augusta National’s all-male membership policy under a microscope, will not be celebrating mocking the ANWA as a public relations stunt but the 77-year-old activist says she and her group of protesters will take credit for sparking the little progress that has been made.

“I just don’t have any doubt about that at all if no public pressure or international spotlight had been shined on it thanks to us they would still be doing the same thing and getting away with it,” Burk told Reuters. “I’m sorry I’m just not buying it.

“People are going to say it is just sour grapes because she did not succeed in her crusade back in 2003 but I think what progress we are seeing is a direct result of what we did.”

What Burk did 16 years ago was put unwanted scrutiny on Augusta National Golf Club and its gender discrimination policy.

Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and opened for play in 1933, Augusta National became a sanctuary for some of the world’s most powerful men and for decades remained unmoved by outside forces and events.

It would be nearly 80 years until Augusta National relented in 2012, with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore becoming the first women to don the iconic Green Jackets that distinguish members and Masters champions.

Holding up Augusta National as a relic of the past, the National Council of Women’s Organisations spearheaded by Burk took their fight to the club’s doorstep during 2003 Masters week, drawing the attention of the world’s media.

Augusta National could not stop the protest but was able to keep it well away from the club’s doorstep, a court order restricting the event to a muddy field out of view of patrons and sponsors.

The protest failed to draw the numbers it hoped for, collapsing into a near farce with clowns and an Elvis impersonator getting as much attention as Burk herself.

While the mood was light, the seriousness of the issue was underscored by Burk having to demonstrate wearing a bullet proof vest while the FBI tapped her phone chasing down death threats.

“If social media had been around I would be dead,” Burk said. “I got so many death threats over Augusta, that day I was wearing a bullet proof vest and I had hired body guards because people were just rampant about it and I really do believe if social media had existed somebody would have tracked me down and shot me.”

ABSOLUTE SECRECY

One of the world’s most exclusive clubs, Augusta National operates in absolute secrecy. Even the smallest detail such as who dry cleans the Green Jackets is classified.

The club’s most heavily guarded secret, however, is its membership and when Burk was leaked a list of the 300 Green Jackets her group mounted a campaign urging consumers to boycott Masters sponsors.

Her organization also facilitated two sex discrimination lawsuits against Smith Barney, a division of Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley, whose CEOs were Augusta members, and collected $79 million in settlements.

It was that legal action, Burk believes, that produced the first cracks in Augusta National’s resolve.

“I did not feel particularly defeated,” said Burk, reflecting on her 2003 protest. “I know people expected me to go crawl into a hole and never come out because we weren’t successful but we just kept trucking along.

“We had a list of all the members and the companies they were affiliated with and I think the club knew that they weren’t going to be the last two lawsuits.

“I knew you could not put that genie back in the bottle it was going to come up as it has every year.

“I knew that eventually something would come of it.

“Will they ever be true converts as opposed to Easter Sunday Christians? I don’t know but at least they are making the right noises.

“It is never going to go away for them.”

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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Ocasio-Cortez hired top Hollywood agency, explored possible book deal: report

New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reportedly hired a top Hollywood talent agency and explored a possibility of writing a book, though the deal appears to have gone nowhere.

Ocasio-Cortez, the self-described Democratic Socialist who got into Congress after defeating prominent Democrat Joe Crowley in her district in November, has come to symbolize the party’s leftward movement.

DOZENS OF DEMS VOTE 95 PERCENT OF TIME WITH AOC DESPITE PELOSI'S CLAIM THAT BLOC IS 'LIKE FIVE PEOPLE'

Ocasio-Cortez retained the talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and held meetings earlier this year about potentially writing a book, the Daily Beast reported.

The book deal in the end didn’t materialize, with reasons remaining unknown, the report said. It’s also unclear if the book deal will be resurrected at a later date or whether she continues working with the top Hollywood talent agency that reportedly represents the likes of George Clooney, Emma Watson, and Brad Pitt.

The congresswoman’s office neither confirmed nor denied the talks she had about the book deal, according to the outlet. Her office did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.

MINNESOTA'S REP. ILHAN OMAR GETS $250G BOOK DEAL AMID UPROAR OVER HER COMMENTS

Book deals signed by incoming members of Congress aren’t new, although few existing members ink such deals due to strict regulations that prohibit receiving an advance for the book.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a freshman Democratic lawmaker from Minnesota who’s facing multiple controversies, entered a book deal worth up to $250,000, though the exact figure remains unclear, before officially becoming a congresswoman, Forbes reported.

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The book by Omar, the first Somali American to serve in Congress, has the working title, “This Is What America Looks Like,” and will be published by Dey Street. It will touch upon Omar's upbringing in Somalia, her years as a refugee in Kenya and her subsequent arrival in the United States.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Aurora warehouse where 5 killed won't reopen until next week

Company officials say the suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse where five people were fatally shot won't reopen until next week, but that its doors will be open to support workers.

Spokeswoman Yolanda Kokayi said Monday that the Henry Pratt Co. facility in Aurora, Illinois, won't return to full production until Feb. 25.

But she says the warehouse doors will be open this week for any employees who want to spend time with colleagues. She says counselors will be available.

A Henry Pratt employee who was about to be fired opened fire at the warehouse Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers. The gunman died in a shootout with police.

Kokayi says the company will be reviewing security protocols and "assessing how we can enhance safety."

Mueller Water Products owns Henry Pratt.

Source: Fox News National

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Bus Aide Snatches MAGA Hat Off 14-Year-Old Student’s Head – Report

A school bus aide allegedly yanked a Trump hat off a 14-year-old student’s head who was celebrating hat day and his “pride in Trump’s America.”

Immediately after boarding the bus, the aide shouted “boy, if you don’t take that hat off this bus,” according to surveillance footage that is part of the incident’s investigation.

“I was really confused, I was like ‘I can’t wear this?’” Said the student. “She, like, threatened me with a referral and threatened to turn the bus around.”

“I said ‘write me up, I didn’t do anything wrong,’ and then she yanked my hat off. It was crazy.”

Other students on the bus, who were allowed to wear their different hats, began texting the boy’s mother about what happened.

The mother went to the police after she was told she wouldn’t be able to see the footage of the incident until after the school district completed its investigation.

“We’re able to confirm that the hat was removed from the child,” said Lieutenant Ryan Grimsdale. “The crux of our investigation will be the interaction directly, physically with the child and how that panned out.”

Correspondingly, Trump supporters have been dealing with confrontations and even assault from leftists since his presidential campaign began in 2015.

A recent example involves the investigation of Zachary Greenberg, 28, who was charged with assaulting a Trump supporter on UC-Berkeley’s campus.

Despite video footage of the incident, an analyst says Greenberg could go “unpunished” because jurors may not see all of the evidence.


Katy joins David Knight to discuss the future for Europeans that increasingly don’t recognize their own “homeland.”

Source: InfoWars

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Nicaragua 'marathon man' protester defiant from house arrest

Grasping the iron bars at his home, Alex Vanegas is taken back to the dark prison cells where he spent the previous four months talking to fellow inmates through holes in the walls that also let in rats, scorpions and cockroaches.

During the unrest that rocked Nicaragua last year, Vanegas became a prominent symbol of opposition to President Daniel Ortega, instantly recognizable for his salt-and-pepper beard and shirts emblazoned with anti-government slogans as he jogged through the streets of Managua in the blue and white of his country's flag.

Arrested again and again, he was conditionally released in late February after four months in jail but is now barred from leaving his house.

Being cooped up hasn't cooled Vanegas' defiant belief that Ortega must leave office, even if for now he has to eschew public protest.

"All Nicaragua is a prison," the diminutive 62-year-old told The Associated Press in an interview.

A longtime athlete, Vanegas competed in track tournaments until he was 46, when he retired due to various maladies. He worked as a business administrator and in sales, and he also managed a roving DJ business.

Vanegas was moved to run again when student-led demonstrators took to the streets nearly a year ago to demand that Ortega leave office and allow early elections — only for hundreds to die in a crackdown by security forces and armed civilian militias backing the president.

"On April 20 I was watching television and I saw Alvarito Conrado die," Vanegas said, referring to a 15-year-old shot in the neck as he carried water to university students hunkered down at a barricade. "I was filled with anger, and I decided to run as a way of releasing that rage and that sorrow."

He began by running around traffic circles in the capital, many of which are adorned by huge, colorful "trees of life" metal sculptures that were sponsored by and have become synonymous with Ortega's powerful first lady and vice president, Rosario Murillo.

"At first I would do a lap for every young person killed. ... Then it was 10, 20, 30," Vanegas said. "And as every day there were more and more dead, I ran more and more laps."

Nicaraguans took notice. Many took to calling Vanegas "el maratonista" — roughly "marathon man." Others mused he was Nicaragua's version of Forrest Gump, the title character in the 1994 Oscar-winning film starring Tom Hanks.

He started receiving unsolicited gifts: hats, flags, bottles of water, a pair of shoes. Independent media outlets portrayed him as a symbol of a spreading rebellion.

"I run to force Ortega out," read the message on one of his T-shirts that, along with his cellphones, were confiscated by police each time he was arrested. They also took from him dozens of Nicaraguan flags, a symbol favored by the opposition against the red-and-black flags of Ortega's Sandinista movement.

Vanegas didn't always feel that way. As a young man, he said, he supported Ortega's struggle that ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza and was jailed for four months as an urban guerrilla fighting for the Sandinista National Liberation Front.

He celebrated the triumph of the Sandinista revolution in 1979, but soon soured on what he saw as its authoritarian politics.

"Alex has become a symbol due to his bravery and his rebellion. Thousands of people love him because he represents everything that the people would like to do but can't," said activist Carla Sequeira of the non-governmental group Permanent Commission on Human Rights.

The government, not surprisingly, takes a different view.

Ortega and his allies have characterized protesters as "coup plotters" and "terrorists," and that has included Vanegas.

On Aug. 13, when Vanegas promoted a run under the slogan "Nicaragua wants justice," Murillo alluded to him by saying he was "making a fool of himself" running around in shorts. "The same ones as always — those who sell out their nation, the traitors," she added.

"I think he felt motivated by those (opposition) mobilizations and discovered that the way to show his political feeling and his solidarity was to have that permanent marathon," said Cairo Amador, a member of a truth commission created by Nicaragua's Sandinista-controlled legislature at the direction of Ortega.

Asked about Vanegas' popularity, Amador said, ironically, "It's because we don't have any other marathon runner in Nicaragua, at least not one with his constancy and perseverance."

Vanegas was arrested five times and released. Then, on Nov. 2, he was taken into custody at a Managua cemetery while accompanying victims' relatives on Day of the Dead. He spent four months behind bars.

The first 60 days were at El Chipote prison. Vanegas said he was poorly fed and had no access to sunlight, and it partially harmed his vision. The next two months were at Modelo prison, where Vanegas said he was not tortured but lived with vermin as cellmates.

The "marathon man" was one of about 100 people deemed political prisoners by rights groups who were granted conditional release Feb. 27, the same day Ortega's government resumed long-stalled talks with the Civic Alliance opposition group.

While negotiators have agreed on a roadmap for the talks, Vanegas sees the process as fraught with pitfalls "because reconciliation cannot be imposed by decree, and this government has committed crimes against humanity."

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, at least 325 people were killed in the unrest and more than 2,000 wounded, while more than 50,000 fled Nicaragua. The government puts the death toll at 198.

The day after he was released, Vanegas laced up his shoes and began running through his neighborhood, surrounded a pack of journalists. Twice police detained him and warned him not to leave home.

So he stopped. The tiny, dark and cluttered house in the working-class neighborhood of La Luz is being watched day and night, he said, with police patrols passing every half hour.

Vanegas lives alone because his partner was allegedly warned she should stay away from him. His four children visit and bring food, "but they are also afraid," he said.

"I risked my life to put Daniel Ortega in power," Vanegas said, "and now he has me locked up in my own home."

Source: Fox News World

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

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

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

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

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

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED FOR CASH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News World

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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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