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Acting Pentagon chief says IS territory nearly cleared

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan says the United States and its partners in Syria have liberated virtually all the territory the Islamic State group once held.

But he's not declaring victory. The insurgents and local forces are still battling over a small slice of land.

Shanahan tells the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. forces are drawing down in Syria but will maintain a presence to prevent a resurgence of the extremist group that once controlled large swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory.

Shanahan is a former Boeing executive who's been the interim Pentagon chief since Jan. 1, when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis left.

President Donald Trump hasn't said whether he'll nominate Shanahan for the Cabinet post.

Source: Fox News National

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Russia blocks news site for anti-Putin graffiti under new law

Russian President Putin attends a gala concert on the occasion of Cosmonautics Day in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a gala concert on the occasion of Cosmonautics Day, at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia April 12, 2019. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

April 15, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian authorities blocked a regional news website over the weekend over a report about graffiti insulting Vladimir Putin, its chief editor said, under a new ban on insulting officials online.

The legislation, which Putin signed into law last month, allows authorities to block sites that carry content deemed to show “blatant disrespect”.

Kremlin critics say the measure is a form of direct state censorship. The law’s authors say it is needed to preserve healthy public debate online.

The 76.Ru news site in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, was blocked by state media watchdog Roskomnadzor for more than 12 hours on April 12-13, Chief Editor Olga Prokhorova said.

She said Roskomnadzor informed 76.Ru after the site had been blocked that its report about graffiti on the columns of a local police station crudely slurring Putin contained information that had been flagged under the law against insulting authorities.

After the news site removed a photograph of the graffiti from the report and sent a screenshot to Roskomnadzor, the site was unblocked, Prokhorova said. The amended report about the graffiti was accessible on Monday, but did not mention what it said.

Roskomnadzor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another Yaroslavl-based news site, Yarkub, said on Saturday it had also been blocked over a similar news item. It removed all mention to Putin in the reports and was unblocked, it said on the Telegram messaging service.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: OANN

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Guy Benson: 'Desperate' media politicized Stanley Cup champions' White House visit to keep Russia narrative alive

Fox News’ Guy Benson criticized the media for continuing to hammer the Russia collusion narrative, this time at the expense of National Hockey League star Alexander Ovechkin.

“For some people who are so emotionally invested in the opposite outcome, it seems like they are just desperate to bring the Russia story back. No matter how farcical, including casting aspersions on the Stanley Cup champion teams captain being under the same roof as the president. It's ludicrous,” Benson told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.

The Washington Capitals, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, visited the White House Monday to celebrate their championship with President Trump.

Ovechkin, the team’s captain and playoff MVP, is Russian. Two of his teammates are Russian and he has in the past said he supported his home country and President Vladimir Putin.

DONNA BRAZILE: WE NEED TO SEE FULL MUELLER REPORT TO GET COUNTRY 'BACK ON SAME PAGE,' PROTECT FROM FUTURE ATTACKS

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, of Russia, hoists the Stanley Cup after the Capitals defeated the Golden Knights in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Thursday, June 7, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, of Russia, hoists the Stanley Cup after the Capitals defeated the Golden Knights in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Thursday, June 7, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) (AP Photo/John Locher)

The New York Times wrote an article Monday about the visit with the headline: “Washington's Most Popular Russian (and His Teammates) Honored at the White House.” The story made mention of the popular hockey star’s relationship to Putin.

“[Ovechkin] has some relationship with Vladimir Putin. He was in the Trump White House and some media outlets decided that that was worthy of a headline and a story, which is beyond parody frankly,” Benson said.

The co-host of Fox News Radio’s “Benson & Harf” also noted Democrats continue to call for the full Mueller report to be released, a notion he supported, but they should not expect any different conclusions than what Attorney General William Barr released in a four-page summary Sunday.

“If Barr were in any way distorting the fundamental finding of no collusion I think we would have heard from Robert Mueller already, he's corrected the record a few times when he feels like things are unfair,” Benson said. “If someone at the very top of the government were misrepresenting what he found on collusion I think he would say something about it and he hasn't.”

READ FULL MUELLER REPORT SUMMARY

Benson believes that Democrats and the media now have a lot to answer for and some are “clinging” to the notion President Trump was colluding with Russia.

“So some of them are clinging. And others are pretending like this never even happened,” Benson said.

“The Democratic Party I think has a lot to answer for. But as we've been talking about on the air for the last few days the media I think has been worse and that's where you're seeing a lot of broken hearts over the last couple of days people really grappling with a difficult reality that the president is in fact legitimately elected and not a Russian plant.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Ohio finds numerous problems at troubled county jail

An Ohio county jail where prisoners are locked down for days because of staff shortages, dietary restrictions are ignored and toilets and showers go unrepaired has received mostly failing grades during its latest state inspection, according to a report released this week.

The Cuyahoga County Corrections Center in downtown Cleveland has been under increasing scrutiny since the deaths of seven prisoners over a four-month period last year and the release of a scathing report by the U.S. Marshals Service in late November that called conditions at the jail "inhumane" and unsafe for prisoners and staff.

The inspection by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction found nearly two-thirds of 135 state standards out of compliance. Only six standards were judged non-compliant by the same state inspector in 2017.

The 2018 state inspection report was released after the U.S. Marshals Service concluded that "life and safety concerns as well as inhumane conditions of confinement" at the jail violate prisoners' constitutional rights. Both inspections highlight a growing number of issues troubling state and county jails across the United States.

The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation of prisoner treatment at the jail. The agency and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are also investigating allegations of public corruption regarding current and former Cuyahoga County officials, including issues surrounding the jail.

The Marshals Service has removed federal detainees from the downtown jail and now places them at a smaller county facility in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid.

Brandy Carney, Cuyahoga County chief of public safety and justice, noted in a statement that previous state inspections "held us in compliance."

"Since the Marshal's report, we have been aggressively working on fixing each issue raised and have made significant progress," Carney said.

JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, which inspects local jails, said Ohio's minimum standards are "significantly different" from those of the Marshals Service. She said 29 of the 84 non-compliant standards found during the latest inspection involved failures to provide documentation.

Smith said state officials reviewed the marshals' report "in an effort to identify potential areas of overlap that could impact the findings of the state inspection."

Brian Klak, a longtime Cuyahoga County corrections officer and union official with the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said overcrowding has been a problem at the downtown jail, which consists of two towers, for years. He said it became more acute when the county took over the city of Cleveland's jail operations early last year.

Persistent lockdowns called "red zoning," which result in prisoners being forced to remain in their cells for periods exceeding 24 hours, began in 2015 when the county took over two suburban jails, reducing the number of correction officers at the downtown facility, Klak told The Associated Press. During red zoning, one corrections officer might be required to keep watch on as many as four housing units while the prescribed staffing plan is one officer for each unit, Klak said.

"This didn't evolve in a couple of months or a couple of years," he said.

During the latest state inspection on Nov. 6, there were 2,202 inmates in a facility meant to hold 1,765.

Both state and federal inspectors said prolonged lockdowns deprive prisoners of access to showers, recreation, educational and substance abuse programs, family visits and conferences with their attorneys.

The state inspection report found juveniles housed with adults; temperatures between 52 and 60 degrees in housing units, menus developed without regard for special dietary or religious needs, showers infested with insects and unsanitary conditions in food service areas.

David Fathi, director of the ACLU's national prison project, said he wasn't aware of problems at the Cuyahoga County jail. He said the ACLU is involved in litigation over conditions at a number of large urban jails, including Maricopa County in Arizona, Broward County in Florida and Baltimore's city jail.

The Justice Department this month asked its inspector general to investigate conditions at a federal lockup in New York City where prisoners were forced to live without heat or electricity during frigid weather over a weeklong period earlier this year.

Civil rights lawsuits filed by jail prisoners claiming mistreatment prompted Ohio's Montgomery County, which includes Dayton, to hire consultants who detailed jail overcrowding and staffing problems there last summer.

The ACLU's Fathi said there are thousands of local jails in the U.S. that largely operate with no oversight or outside supervision.

"Some are well run and protect detainees' health safety and human dignity," he said. "And there other jails with truly Third World levels of squalor and misery."

Source: Fox News National

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Judge Napolitano: Here's what the FBI, Justice Department will look at in Smollett investigation

The FBI and Justice Department investigation into the handling of Jussie Smollett’s case will likely focus on whether the controversial decision to let him walk free was “an act of corruption and if so, was anybody’s civil rights violated by it,” Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano says.

The judge’s appearance on “Fox & Friends" Thursday came after President Trump called the case “outrageous” and an “embarrassment to our nation.” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office approved the dismissal of charges that the "Empire" actor faked a hate crime, has been heavily criticized in recent days over that decision, including by Chicago’s mayor and police chief.

“Was it an act of corruption on the part of the prosecutor who first said ‘I’m not in the case’ and then said ‘I’m sort of back in but don’t tell anybody that I’m back in’?” Napolitano said. “This is absurd. Either you are in, or you are out. And if you have a conflict you have to get out.”

Foxx recused herself from the case in February but defended her office offering Smollett “an alternative prosecution model” in a series of interviews Wednesday.

SMOLLETT’S LAWYER SUGGESTS BROTHERS WORE WHITE MAKEUP DURING ATTACK, BRUSHES OFF FBI PROBE

In one with WBBM-TV, Foxx said no one tried to intervene on Smollett’s behalf, despite emails showing that she was contacted by people linked to Smollett about the case.

"There was no attempt, whatsoever, to influence the outcome of this case," she told the television station. "None whatsoever."

The case was then handed to First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats, who reports to Foxx. That passing of the torch has been questioned by legal experts.

“I don’t know what her involvement is but when someone comes to you – if I was about to sentence somebody that I really knew and liked and respected came to me and said ‘hey you should give that person a break’, what’s the right thing for me to do?” Napolitano said. “Get off the case. Don’t say publicly why, just totally get off the case don’t slowly walk back in, just get off the case. Because cases not only must be just, they must appear to be just.”

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When asked by host Brian Kilmeade if there are any political figures who have gained something in the wake of the charges against Smollett being dropped, Napolitano says he’s not yet sure.

“There are pieces of the puzzle we don’t yet understand,” he said. “All of this is below the radar screen. Somebody wants something and so they did a favor for somebody else, and I can’t fill in the blanks yet, but I think it’s going to come out.”

Fox News’ Judson Berger, Travis Fedschun, Matt Finn and Frank Miles contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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U.S. states probing Hyundai, Kia over vehicle fires: Connecticut AG

The Hyundai logo is seen outside a Hyundai car dealer in Golden
The Hyundai logo is seen outside a Hyundai car dealer in Golden, Colorado, November 3, 2014. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

March 19, 2019

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) – A group of U.S. states is investigating Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp for potential unfair and deceptive acts related to reports of hundreds of vehicle fires, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said on Monday.

The South Korean automakers have recalled more than 2.3 million vehicles since 2015 to address various engine fire risks in a series of recalls. In November, Reuters reported that federal prosecutors had launched a criminal investigation into Hyundai and Kia to determine if vehicle recalls linked to engine defects had been conducted properly.

“We are aware of multiple fires involving Connecticut vehicles, including some allegedly already repaired through the recall process. This is a serious matter, and we are moving aggressively and responsibly to uncover the facts and to ensure accountability,” Tong said in a statement.

Hyundai said late Monday it is “fully cooperating with the government in this matter, and is committed to providing American motorists with safe, high quality, efficient and affordable vehicles.” The company added it “has made numerous improvements to our engine manufacturing, and has enhanced our customer service efforts to address every single impacted customer.”

Kia did not immediately comment. A spokeswoman for the Connecticut attorney general declined to say how many states were taking part.

Reuters reported in January that the companies would offer software upgrades for 3.7 million vehicles not being recalled.

A South Korean whistleblower in 2016 reported concerns to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has been probing the timeliness of three U.S. recalls and whether they covered enough vehicles.

In 2015, Hyundai recalled 470,000 U.S. Sonata sedans, saying engine failure would result in a vehicle stall, increasing the risk of a crash. At the time, Kia did not recall its vehicles, which share the same “Theta II” engines.

In March 2017, Hyundai expanded its original U.S. recall to 572,000 Sonata and Santa Fe Sport vehicles with those Theta II engines, citing the same issue involving manufacturing debris. On the same day, Kia also recalled 618,000 Optima, Sorento and Sportage vehicles, all of which use the same engine.

Last month, the Center for Auto Safety, which has petitioned NHTSA to demand the recall of additional vehicles, told Congress that Kia and Hyundai must recall more vehicles at risk of fires after reports of 300 fires not the result of a collision.

On Monday, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, asked NHTSA to launch a safety defect investigation into Hyundai and Kia vehicles with the “Theta II” engines and order an immediate recall of vehicles.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Sandra Maler and Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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Report: Myanmar, China failing to stop 'bride' trafficking

A human rights group says authorities in China and Myanmar are failing to stop the brutal trafficking of young women, often teenagers, from the conflict-ridden Kachin border region for sexual slavery.

Human Rights Watch says women are often tricked into traveling to China in search of work or kidnapped and held against their will to be sold as "brides" for Chinese men.

The report says the 226 known cases of such trafficking in 2017 were only a fraction of the total number.

It says the 37 survivors of such crimes interviewed for the report were sold for the equivalent of $3,000-$13,000.

The group said Myanmar provides help to 100-200 such victims who manage to escape each year. Those taken hostage by Chinese families are often locked up and raped.

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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