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Pope denounces constant accusers as sex abuse survivors express anger

FILE PHOTO: Holy Mass during the 23rd World Day For Consecrated Life at the Vatican
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis leads a Holy Mass during the 23rd World Day For Consecrated Life in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, February 2, 2019. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

February 20, 2019

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis said on Wednesday that people who spent their lives denouncing the Catholic Church were friends of the devil, as survivors of sexual abuse by clergymen accused him of snubbing an invitation to meet them.

Speaking on the eve of a conference he has convened to guide senior bishops on how to tackle widespread abuse that has decimated the Church’s credibility, Frances said its mistakes should be corrected.

But those accusers who did nothing but criticize the Church were “friends, cousins and relatives of the devil,” he told worshippers at the Vatican.

Gathered outside the Vatican, a group of abuse survivors said they were disappointed that the pontiff had declined their invitation to meet them.

“We believed that this morning’s meeting would be with the Pope, with a cross-section of survivors from around the world,” one, Englishman Peter Saunders, told Reuters TV.

“It would seem that the Pope, once again, is giving the two fingers to survivors and to child protection everywhere,” he said, using an English expression for a crude gesture.

(reporting by Eleanor Biles; Writing by John Stonestreet, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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South Africa’s Denel may wind down manufacturing for Airbus A400M

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A400M aircraft flies during a display on the first day of the 52nd Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris
FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A400M aircraft flies during a display on the first day of the 52nd Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France, June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

March 30, 2019

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African state arms company Denel is in talks with Airbus about winding down production of parts for the European planemaker’s A400M military aircraft, Denel said on Saturday.

Denel, a cornerstone of South Africa’s once mighty defense industry, is battling to emerge from a financial and operational crisis. In February it said it could sell stakes in some divisions as part of a strategy to return to profits within two years.

The company has also been trying to renegotiate onerous contracts and exit parts of its business which are no longer viable, after making a 1.7 billion rand ($117 million) loss in the 2017/18 financial year.

Denel said it was yet to finalize terms with Airbus for the winding down of production for the A400M.

“The two companies agreed that the continued manufacturing of aircraft parts by Denel is no longer sustainable in its current form,” Denel said in a statement. “Alternative options are now being considered between the two parties.”

Denel will try to minimize the impact on jobs at its Aeronautics division, it added.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Ex-Hillary Clinton aide criticizes Bernie Sanders: ‘His message is capitalist!’

Jess McIntosh, a former aide to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders for what she suggested was a hypocritical response to concerns over his own financial success amid his campaign's populist messaging.

McIntosh's comments came after a Fox News townhall in which the Sanders defended the profits he made from his bestselling book as the result of his own success. "His message is capitalist!" McIntosh told CNN's Erin Burnett on Monday.

“He’s literally saying ‘I made a product the market wanted, and I got rich off of it, and you can do that too,'" she added. Sanders, among other 2020 Democrats, received a wave of criticism after a series of financial disclosures revealed just how much money they made in previous years.

During her Monday broadcast, Burnett bluntly labeled Sanders a "hypocrite" for railing against the wealthy while contributing little in charitable donations. "The problem is when you're Bernie Sanders and you rail against people paying their fair share, and you don't have the huge charitable donations, and you're not donating money to the IRS, you are a hypocrite," Burnett asserted.

BERNIE SANDERS, AT COMBATIVE FOX NEWS TOWN HALL, MAKES NO APOLOGIES FOR MAKING MILLIONS

For McIntosh, Sanders' hypocrisy didn't come so much from the fact that he made as much money as he did. “I actually don’t see too much of a contradiction between being a millionaire and railing against a class that produces millionaires," she said.

Part of Sanders' earnings, as he pointed out during his town hall, came from "Our Revolution," the book he co-authored with his wife Jane. The book's sales reportedly contributed substantially to the couple's more than $1.1 million in earnings made during 2017.

"If anyone thinks I should apologize for writing a bestselling book, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do it," Sander said while defending himself.

That defense, in addition to his attitude towards allegations surrounding the verbiage in his speeches, "undermines the integrity of his message."

BERNIE SANDERS' PLANS WILL COST $20G PER TAXPAYER, BLOW HOLE IN BUDGET: NONPARTISAN GROUP'S PRESIDENT

"When he spent the weekend attacking a liberal outlet for correctly citing that he has changed in his speeches railing against 'millionaires and billionaires' to railing against 'multi-millionaires and billionaires,' the defensiveness [...] it really undermines the integrity of his message,'" she said.

Her comments appeared to highlight long-standing tension between Sanders' and Clinton's campaigns -- something that surfaced once again when a left-leaning publication released a video insinuating that Sanders made millions of dollars through hypocritical messaging.

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"It's all very off-brand and embarrassing, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is a millionaire. Turns out railing against 'millionaires and billionaires' can be quite the lucrative enterprise," the video from ThinkProgress, which is affiliated with a think tank led by former Clinton aide Neera Tanden, said.

Although Tanden eventually backed away from the video, the incident seemed to recall conflict between establishment Democrats and the party's more progressive wing during the 2016 election.

Source: Fox News Politics

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What Scientists Found After Sifting Through Dust in the Solar System

Just as dust gathers in corners and along bookshelves in our homes, dust piles up in space too.

But when the dust settles in the solar system, it’s often in rings. Several dust rings circle the Sun. The rings trace the orbits of planets, whose gravity tugs dust into place around the Sun, as it drifts by on its way to the center of the solar system.

The dust consists of crushed-up remains from the formation of the solar system, some 4.6 billion years ago — rubble from asteroid collisions or crumbs from blazing comets. Dust is dispersed throughout the entire solar system, but it collects at grainy rings overlying the orbits of Earth and Venus, rings that can be seen with telescopes on Earth. By studying this dust — what it’s made of, where it comes from, and how it moves through space — scientists seek clues to understanding the birth of planets and the composition of all that we see in the solar system.

Two recent studies report new discoveries of dust rings in the inner solar system. One study uses NASA data to outline evidence for a dust ring around the Sun at Mercury’s orbit. A second study from NASA identifies the likely source of the dust ring at Venus’ orbit: a group of never-before-detected asteroids co-orbiting with the planet.

“It’s not every day you get to discover something new in the inner solar system,” said Marc Kuchner, an author on the Venus study and astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This is right in our neighborhood.”

Another Ring Around the Sun

Guillermo Stenborg and Russell Howard, both solar scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., did not set out to find a dust ring. “We found it by chance,” Stenborg said, laughing. The scientists summarized their findings in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal on Nov. 21, 2018.

They describe evidence of a fine haze of cosmic dust over Mercury’s orbit, forming a ring some 9.3 million miles wide. Mercury — 3,030 miles wide, just big enough for the continental United States to stretch across — wades through this vast dust trail as it circles the Sun.

Ironically, the two scientists stumbled upon the dust ring while searching for evidence of a dust-free region close to the Sun. At some distance from the Sun, according to a decades-old prediction, the star’s mighty heat should vaporize dust, sweeping clean an entire stretch of space. Knowing where this boundary is can tell scientists about the composition of the dust itself, and hint at how planets formed in the young solar system.

So far, no evidence has been found of dust-free space, but that’s partly because it would be difficult to detect from Earth. No matter how scientists look from Earth, all the dust in between us and the Sun gets in the way, tricking them into thinking perhaps space near the Sun is dustier than it really is.

Stenborg and Howard figured they could work around this problem by building a model based on pictures of interplanetary space from NASA’s STEREO satellite — short for Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory.

Ultimately, the two wanted to test their new model in preparation for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which is currently flying a highly elliptic orbit around the Sun, swinging closer and closer to the star over the next seven years. They wanted to apply their technique to the images Parker will send back to Earth and see how dust near the Sun behaves.

Scientists have never worked with data collected in this unexplored territory, so close to the Sun. Models like Stenborg and Howard’s provide crucial context for understanding Parker Solar Probe’s observations, as well as hinting at what kind of space environment the spacecraft will find itself in — sooty or sparkling clean.

Two kinds of light show up in STEREO images: light from the Sun’s blazing outer atmosphere — called the corona — and light reflected off all the dust floating through space. The sunlight reflected off this dust, which slowly orbits the Sun, is about 100 times brighter than coronal light.

“We’re not really dust people,” said Howard, who is also the lead scientist for the cameras on STEREO and Parker Solar Probe that take pictures of the corona. “The dust close to the Sun just shows up in our observations, and generally, we have thrown it away.” Solar scientists like Howard — who study solar activity for purposes such as forecasting imminent space weather, including giant explosions of solar material that the Sun can sometimes send our way — have spent years developing techniques to remove the effect of this dust. Only after removing light contamination from dust can they clearly see what the corona is doing.

The two scientists built their model as a tool for others to get rid of the pesky dust in STEREO — and eventually Parker Solar Probe — images, but the prediction of dust-free space lingered in the back of their minds. If they could devise a way of separating the two kinds of light and isolate the dust-shine, they could figure out how much dust was really there. Finding that all the light in an image came from the corona alone, for example, could indicate they’d found dust-free space at last.

Mercury’s dust ring was a lucky find, a side discovery Stenborg and Howard made while they were working on their model. When they used their new technique on the STEREO images, they noticed a pattern of enhanced brightness along Mercury’s orbit — more dust, that is — in the light they’d otherwise planned to discard.

“It wasn’t an isolated thing,” Howard said. “All around the Sun, regardless of the spacecraft’s position, we could see the same five percent increase in dust brightness, or density. That said something was there, and it’s something that extends all around the Sun.”

Scientists never considered that a ring might exist along Mercury’s orbit, which is maybe why it’s gone undetected until now, Stenborg said. “People thought that Mercury, unlike Earth or Venus, is too small and too close to the Sun to capture a dust ring,” he said. “They expected that the solar wind and magnetic forces from the Sun would blow any excess dust at Mercury’s orbit away.”

With an unexpected discovery and sensitive new tool under their belt, the researchers are still interested in the dust-free zone. As Parker Solar Probe continues its exploration of the corona, their model can help others reveal any other dust bunnies lurking near the Sun.

Asteroids Hiding in Venus’ Orbit

This isn’t the first time scientists have found a dust ring in the inner solar system. Twenty-five years ago, scientists discovered that Earth orbits the Sun within a giant ring of dust. Others uncovered a similar ring near Venus’ orbit, first using archival data from the German-American Helios space probes in 2007, and then confirming it in 2013, with STEREO data.

Since then, scientists determined the dust ring in Earth’s orbit comes largely from the asteroid belt, the vast, doughnut-shaped region between Mars and Jupiter where most of the solar system’s asteroids live. These rocky asteroids constantly crash against each other, sloughing dust that drifts deeper into the Sun’s gravity, unless Earth’s gravity pulls the dust aside, into our planet’s orbit.

At first, it seemed likely that Venus’ dust ring formed like Earth’s, from dust produced elsewhere in the solar system. But when Goddard astrophysicist Petr Pokorny modeled dust spiraling toward the Sun from the asteroid belt, his simulations produced a ring that matched observations of Earth’s ring — but not Venus’.

This discrepancy made him wonder if not the asteroid belt, where else does the dust in Venus’ orbit come from? After a series of simulations, Pokorny and his research partner Marc Kuchner hypothesized it comes from a group of never-before-detected asteroids that orbit the Sun alongside Venus. They published their work in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 12, 2019.

“I think the most exciting thing about this result is it suggests a new population of asteroids that probably holds clues to how the solar system formed,” Kuchner said. If Pokorny and Kuchner can observe them, this family of asteroids could shed light on Earth and Venus’ early histories. Viewed with the right tools, the asteroids could also unlock clues to the chemical diversity of the solar system.

Because it’s dispersed over a larger orbit, Venus’ dust ring is much larger than the newly detected ring at Mercury’s. About 16 million miles from top to bottom and 6 million miles wide, the ring is littered with dust whose largest grains are roughly the size of those in coarse sandpaper. It’s about 10 percent denser with dust than surrounding space. Still, it’s diffuse — pack all the dust in the ring together, and all you’d get is an asteroid two miles across.

Using a dozen different modeling tools to simulate how dust moves around the solar system, Pokorny modeled all the dust sources he could think of, looking for a simulated Venus ring that matched the observations. The list of all the sources he tried sounds like a roll call of all the rocky objects in the solar system: Main Belt asteroids, Oort Cloud comets, Halley-type comets, Jupiter-family comets, recent collisions in the asteroid belt.

“But none of them worked,” Kuchner said. “So, we started making up our own sources of dust.”

Perhaps, the two scientists thought, the dust came from asteroids much closer to Venus than the asteroid belt. There could be a group of asteroids co-orbiting the Sun with Venus — meaning they share Venus’ orbit, but stay far away from the planet, often on the other side of the Sun. Pokorny and Kuchner reasoned a group of asteroids in Venus’ orbit could have gone undetected until now because it’s difficult to point earthbound telescopes in that direction, so close to the Sun, without light interference from the Sun.

Co-orbiting asteroids are an example of what’s called a resonance, an orbital pattern that locks different orbits together, depending on how their gravitational influences meet. Pokorny and Kuchner modeled many potential resonances: asteroids that circle the Sun twice for every three of Venus’ orbits, for example, or nine times for Venus’ ten, and one for one. Of all the possibilities, one group alone produced a realistic simulation of the Venus dust ring: a pack of asteroids that occupies Venus’ orbit, matching Venus’ trips around the Sun one for one.

But the scientists couldn’t just call it a day after finding a hypothetical solution that worked. “We thought we’d discovered this population of asteroids, but then had to prove it and show it works,” Pokorny said. “We got excited, but then you realize, ‘Oh, there’s so much work to do.’”

They needed to show that the very existence of the asteroids makes sense in the solar system. It would be unlikely, they realized, that asteroids in these special, circular orbits near Venus arrived there from somewhere else like the asteroid belt. Their hypothesis would make more sense if the asteroids had been there since the very beginning of the solar system.

The scientists built another model, this time starting with a throng of 10,000 asteroids neighboring Venus. They let the simulation fast forward through 4.5 billion years of solar system history, incorporating all the gravitational effects from each of the planets. When the model reached present-day, about 800 of their test asteroids survived the test of time.

Pokorny considers this an optimistic survival rate. It indicates that asteroids could have formed near Venus’ orbit in the chaos of the early solar system, and some could remain there today, feeding the dust ring nearby.

The next step is actually pinning down and observing the elusive asteroids. “If there’s something there, we should be able to find it,” Pokorny said. Their existence could be verified with space-based telescopes like Hubble, or perhaps interplanetary space-imagers similar to STEREO’s. Then, the scientists will have more questions to answer: How many of them are there, and how big are they? Are they continuously shedding dust, or was there just one break-up event?

Dust Rings Around Other Stars 

The dust rings that Mercury and Venus shepherd are just a planet or two away, but scientists have spotted many other dust rings in distant star systems. Vast dust rings can be easier to spot than exoplanets, and could be used to infer the existence of otherwise hidden planets, and even their orbital properties.

But interpreting extrasolar dust rings isn’t straightforward. “In order to model and accurately read the dust rings around other stars, we first have to understand the physics of the dust in our own backyard,” Kuchner said. By studying neighboring dust rings at Mercury, Venus and Earth, where dust traces out the enduring effects of gravity in the solar system, scientists can develop techniques for reading between the dust rings both near and far.



Here’s another “study” used to push an divisive narrative.

Source: InfoWars

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Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez use New Zealand semi-automatic weapons ban to call for stricter gun control in US

Leading Democrats have heaped praise on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after the Kiwi leader announced her country was immediately banning "military-style semi-automatic weapons" after last week's attack that killed 50 people at two mosques.

Ardern announced Wednesday the weapons would be banned in addition to "all assault rifles," among other firearms, adding that legislation is currently being drafted and she expects the law to take effect by April 11.

"We will ban all high-capacity magazines. We will ban all parts with the ability to convert semiautomatic, or any other type of firearm, into a military-style semi-automatic weapon," the prime minister said. "In short, every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country."

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCES BAN ON 'MILITARY-STYLE SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS' AFTER MOSQUE

In this March 20, 2019, photo, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a press conference following the March 15 mosque shooting, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Prime Minister Ardern says New Zealand is immediately banning assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and "military style semi-automatic rifles" like the weapons used in last Friday's attacks on two Christchurch mosques. (Kyodo News via AP)

In this March 20, 2019, photo, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a press conference following the March 15 mosque shooting, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Prime Minister Ardern says New Zealand is immediately banning assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and "military style semi-automatic rifles" like the weapons used in last Friday's attacks on two Christchurch mosques. (Kyodo News via AP)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., were among the crowd of progressive voices who celebrated Ardern’s announcement, and they also used it as an opportunity to call for stricter gun control in the U.S.

“This is what real action to stop gun violence looks like. We must follow New Zealand's lead, take on the NRA and ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons in the United States,” Sanders tweeted.

Ocasio-Cortez shared a video of Ardern announcing the ban, adding: “Sandy Hook happened 6 years ago and we can’t even get the Senate to hold a vote on universal background checks w/ #HR8.

“Christchurch happened, and within days New Zealand acted to get weapons of war out of the consumer market.

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER VOWS NEVER TO MENTION MOSQUE GUNMAN'S NAME

“This is what leadership looks like.”

In response to Ocasio-Cortez, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said: "That’s also what an entirely different country that doesn’t have the right to bear arms as a cornerstone of its constitution, in addition to numerous state laws. It’s also what confiscation and banning most semi-auto looks like, too."

The ban in New Zealand comes six days after a gunman opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch. The massacre left 50 people dead and dozens of others injured.

Ardern said the man suspected of the attack bought his weapons legally with a standard gun license and modified their capacity by using 30-round magazines, "essentially turning them into military-style semi-automatic weapons."

The 28-year-old suspect bought the weapons "through a simple online purchase," she said, and "took a significant number of lives using primarily two guns."

YOUNGEST NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE ATTACK VICTIM, 3, MOURNED AS COMMUNITY REMEMBERS ENERGETIC TODDLER

The alleged shooter, whom Fox News is not naming, has been charged with one count of murder in the attacks, which became New Zealand's deadliest mass shooting in modern history. He is expected to face additional charges at his next court appearance April 5.

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Preparations are underway for a massive prayer service to be held Friday, with nearly 4,000 people expected to attend.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Cycling: Team Sky confirms Ineos as new owner from May

Tour de France
FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Tour de France - Rest day - Carcassonne, France, July 23, 2018. The logo of Team Sky is seen on a bus on the second rest day. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

March 19, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s hugely successful Team Sky has been bought out by chemicals giant Ineos and will change its to Team Ineos from May this year, the cycling team confirmed on Tuesday.

Ineos is owned by Britain’s richest man Jim Ratcliffe.

Broadcaster Sky said last December that it would end its involvement with the team that has won six Tour de France’s since it was founded by Dave Brailsford in 2010.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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China stocks rally on investor optimism, but corporate earnings lag

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shanghai
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shanghai, China September 7, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Luoyan Liu and Patturaja Murugaboopathy

SHANGHAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) – A sharp rally in Chinese stocks this year has been driven more by investor optimism than fundamentals, based on an analysis of corporate earnings estimates in an economy expanding at its slowest pace in 28 years.

As the 2018 earnings reporting season begins for mainland firms, analysts are issuing more downgrades than upgrades for corporate earnings, even as they hope that China’s stimulus plans for the economy kick in.

That implies that investors who have pushed the market up 22 percent this year are hoping for a turnaround in earnings, which often lags share prices.

(Graphic: China earnings yet to improve – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UOrRnV)

(Graphic: Asia’s estimated earnings for 2019 – https://tmsnrt.rs/2USI63y)

China has promised billions of dollars in tax cuts and infrastructure spending to help businesses and protect jobs. Hopes of a deal with the United States to end a year-long trade war have also boosted stock prices.

Beijing has vowed to use more policy tools to ensure the economy grows within a targeted range of 6.0 to 6.5 percent.

“The impact from Beijing’s tax cuts and expenses reductions in 2019 will be between 150-400 billion yuan ($22.37-59.64 billion) on the A-share market, accounting for 4-9 percent of their net profits,” investment bank China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC) said in report.

Those supportive measures will systematically improve the profitability of Chinese companies, CICC said.

(Graphic: China’s industrial profits shrank in Dec – https://tmsnrt.rs/2HETCMK)

As companies this month release their annual results for 2018, investors need to see prospects for improved profitability to push the market any higher.

“It’s a misperception that solid fundamentals are not needed for a bull run, which is now in its first stage, and the signal for the second stage will be earnings growth recovery after bottoming out,” Haitong Securities wrote in report.

(Graphic: Shanghai firms revenue and profit growth – https://tmsnrt.rs/2CyoQRF)

The rebound has been led by the financial sector, which President Xi Jinping has labeled a key part of China’s core competitiveness and Beijing has vowed to liberalize further.

Some financial firms have posted hefty earnings. Ping An Insurance Group said it would return up to 10 billion yuan to shareholders through its first share buyback after a forecast-beating jump in annual profit.

Yet estimates for the sector have not been marked higher.

(Graphic: China MSCI financials – https://tmsnrt.rs/2USUMr3)

Consumer firms are also expected to gain from measures to boost consumption. Liquor makers have been pushed to record highs by investors, including foreigners who have long favored firms with strong brand names and solid profits.

Shares of Fuling Zhacai, dubbed one of China’s “super brands”, hit a new high after it reported strong profit growth in 2018 and expected a 26 percent revenue gain in 2019.

(Graphic: China MSCI consumer discretionary – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UXX0FS)

Investors are also tracking mainland-listed tech firms as Beijing seeks to reduce dependence on foreign technology to counter U.S. curbs on China’s tech advancement.

Xiaomi-backed TCL Corp reported strong 2018 earnings, sending its stock up nearly 70 percent this year.

(Graphic: MSCI China tech – https://tmsnrt.rs/2HFL6xp)

Market participants believe a new technology board in Shanghai will help improve the valuations for tech firms already listed on the A-share market.

Shenzhen’s Nasdaq-style start-up board index Chinext has soared 32 percent this year. That compares with a 15 percent rise for Nasdaq in the same period.

(Graphic: China’s Nasdaq-style tech board outperforms – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Cwq9Ax)

Still, given how far some companies have missed their earnings’ estimates in 2018, analysts are reluctant to upgrade their forecasts until they see a decisive turn in profitability.

(Graphic: Percentage of Chinese firms missing expected earnings in 2018 – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Cyy4xd)

(Reporting by Luoyan Liu; Additional reporting by Patturaja Murugaboopathy in BENGALURU; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London
FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 15, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Ailing British retailer Debenhams said two proposed company voluntary arrangements (CVA) could see all its stores remaining open during 2019, with 22 closures planned for next year, putting about 1,200 jobs at risk.

Debenhams’ lenders took control of the retailer earlier this month in a process designed to keep its shops open at the expense of shareholders.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London
FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London, Britain, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

April 26, 2019

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Chinese brands controlled a record 66 percent of Indian smartphone market in the first quarter, led by Xiaomi Corp, a report showed, with volumes rising 20 percent on the back of popularity for brands like Vivo, RealMe and Oppo.

Xiaomi’s India shipments fell by 2 percent over last year, but the Beijing-based company was still the biggest smartphone brand in the country, followed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, according to Hong-Kong based Counterpoint Research.

Shipment volumes for Vivo jumped 119 percent, while those of Oppo rose 28 percent.

“Vivo’s expanding portfolio in the mid-tier range ($100 to $180) drove its growth along with aggressive Indian Premier League cricket campaign,” Counterpoint analysts said.

India is the world’s fastest growing market for smartphones, where affordable pricing coupled with features like “selfie” cameras and big screens have popularized Chinese brands.

Video streaming services like Netflix Inc and Hotstar, as well as heavy usage of messaging apps like Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp have further spurred demand.

“Data consumption is on the rise and users are upgrading their phones faster as compared to other regions,” Counterpoint’s Tarun Pathak said.

“As a result of this, the premium specs are now diffusing faster into the mid-tier price brands. We estimate this trend to continue leading to a competitive mid-tier segment in coming quarters.”

(Reporting By Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Source: OANN

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Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here’s a look at what you need to know today …

EXCLUSIVE: Trump says ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden doesn’t have what it takes

President Trump, in a wide-ranging, exclusive phone interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, dismissed the launch of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, nicknaming him “Sleepy Joe” and saying he’s “not the brightest bulb.” Biden, the president said, has name recognition but he won’t “be able to do the job.” When asked about Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Trump criticized his record, saying Sanders had “misguided energy” and asserted that Sanders “talks a lot” but hasn’t accomplished anything. The president referred to former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas as “a fluke” who had lost much momentum and outright dismissed Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — although he said he was “rooting” for Buttigieg. (Trump could address Biden and the other Democratic presidential candidates when he speaks today before the National Rifle Association.)

The Democratic Party’s youth movement: Biden’s biggest challenge?
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Howard Dean warned Joe Biden about the troubles he may face in his presidential campaign, especially from the “35-year-olds” who Dean says have been running the party — a clear nod to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and fellow freshmen Democrats. “This is a very different party than even the party Joe Biden ran in in 2012. Very different,” Dean continued. “A lot of people could win this race. There’s 20 people in there. I think it’s going to take $20 million to get to the starting line. If you can’t raise $20 million, you’re gone, and I think that’s going to take care of about six or eight of these folks. … But it is not the same party that it was five years ago.” A progressive political group that boosted Ocasio-Cortez’s bid for Congress last year vowed to oppose Biden and blasted him as part of the “old guard.”

More tales from the FBI texts
Text messages between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page indicate they discussed using briefings to the Trump team after the 2016 election to identify people they could “develop for potential relationships,” track lines of questioning and “assess” changes in “demeanor” – language one GOP lawmaker called “more evidence” of irregular conduct in the original Russia probe. Fox News has learned the texts, initially released in 2018 by a Senate committee, are under renewed scrutiny, with GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security Committee chair Ron Johnson sending a letter Thursday night to Attorney General Bill Barr pushing for more information on the matter. President Trump, speaking on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night, responded to this report by accusing Strzok and Page of an attempted “coup.” “They were trying to infiltrate the administration,” he said.

Kim accuses US of acting in ‘bad faith’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fresh off his summit with  Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S. has been acting in “bad faith” since his Hanoi meeting with President Trump over the stalemated issue of North Korean denuclearization. The North Korean leader told the Korean Central News Agency that, “the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point,” the Straits Times of Singapore reported. Kim warned that the situation “may return to its original state as the U.S. took a unilateral attitude in bad faith at the recent second DPRK-US summit talks,” the Korean Central News Agency added.

NFL Draft 2019: It’s all about defense
The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft saw a run on defensive players, with eight of the top 12 picks in Nashville coming from that side of the ball. After Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was taken first overall by the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers started a run of four straight front-seven players by taking Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa with the second overall pick — the highest draft slot for any Buckeye since left tackle Orlando Pace went No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams in 1997.

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TODAY’S MUST-READS
Fox News’ Ed Henry recalls spending time with Celtics great John Havlicek.
Massachusetts judge accused of helping illegal immigrant evade ICE pleads not guilty.
Rosenstein slams Obama administration for choosing ‘not to publicize full story’ of Russia hacking.
F.H. Buckley: What Democrats have forgotten about citizenship.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Amazon crushes earnings expectations, but revenue growth slows.
Low-tax states among best places to make a living in 2019.
Construction job market booming: These states are hiring.

#TheFlashback
2018: Bill Cosby is convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004; it is the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
1986: An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine causes radioactive fallout to spew into the atmosphere. (Dozens of people are killed in the immediate aftermath of the disaster while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is believed to number in the thousands.)
1977: Notorious nightclub Studio 54 opens in New York.

SOME PARTING WORDS

Watch the “Special Report” panel take a look at former Vice President Joe Biden’s decision to run for president a third time and the battle for the “soul” of America.

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CLICK HERE to find out what’s on Fox News programming today and over the weekend!

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News’ Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day and weekend! We’ll see you in your inbox first thing Monday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

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Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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German carmaker Daimler endured a weak start to the year, echoing troubles at other major manufacturers, as sales in the big Chinese market stuttered.

The company said Friday that its net income fell to 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in the first quarter from 2.3 billion euros during the same period a year earlier, while revenue dipped to 39.7 billion euros from 39.8 billion euros.

Vehicle sales fell 4% to 773,800 units, with a double-digit percentage drop in China offsetting gains in other markets like the U.S. and Europe.

The company said there were also problems with high inventories and bottlenecks in the supply chain.

Chairman Dieter Zetsche said that “we cannot and will not be satisfied with this — as expected — moderate start to the year.”

Source: Fox News World

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