Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Israel’s Wix.com fourth-quarter profit up, sees 25 revenue growth in 2019

The logo of website-designer firm Wix.com is seen at a high-tech park in Beersheba
The logo of website-designer firm Wix.com is seen at a high-tech park in Beersheba, southern Israel August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

February 20, 2019

By Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Wix.com, which helps small businesses build and operate websites, posted higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and forecast a 25 percent rise in revenue in 2019.

It reported on Wednesday a net profit of 42 cents per share excluding one-time items, up from 16 cents a year earlier. Revenue grew 39 percent to $164 million.

Analysts had forecast adjusted profit of 33 cents a share on revenue of $162 million, I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv showed.

Israel-based Wix offers free basic features for setting up websites but users must pay for extra services such as shopping carts, individual web addresses and site traffic analysis.

The company has 142 million registered users. During the quarter it added 147,000 paid users to reach 4 million premium customers, up 24 percent from the end of 2017.

Wix projects 2019 revenue of $755-$761 million, up 25-26 percent from 2018. Analysts were forecasting revenue of $761 million.

Chief Financial Officer Lior Shemesh said Wix expects to generate free cash flow of about $155 million, from which it will use $15-$20 million for new growth initiatives.

“If there will be upside from those investments it’s not part of our guidance. Potentially there’s an upside,” he told Reuters, noting 2018 was a record year for product launches.

The company has seen strong demand for its paid set of tools Ascend, which was launched in December and allows businesses to connect with and manage customers.

President Nir Zohar said Wix’s main competitor is Squarespace, a private New York-based firm. There has been some recent M&A activity in the sector, with the $2 billion acquisition of Web.com by Siris Capital and Square Inc’s $365 million purchase of Weebly.

For the first quarter Wix, whose shares have jumped nearly 70 percent in the past year, estimates revenue of $172-$173 million, up 25-26 percent from a year earlier.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen; editing by Steven Scheer and Jason Neely)

Source: OANN

0 0

IMF likely to lower growth forecast for Germany: Die Zeit

FILE PHOTO: Volkswagen export cars are seen in the port of Emden
FILE PHOTO: Volkswagen export cars are seen in the port of Emden, beside the VW plant, Germany March 9, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

February 20, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund is likely to further lower its growth forecast for Germany, Die Zeit weekly newspaper paper quoted IMF chief Christine Lagarde as saying on Wednesday.

Lagarde urged the German government to spend more money for projects like modernizing public infrastructure in order to bolster growth, the paper added.

(Reporting by Thomas Seythal, editing by Joseph Nasr)

Source: OANN

0 0

Minnesota deputy finds pig on driver’s lap after report of swerving vehicle

This guy's car was a real pigsty.

A Minnesota sheriff’s office on Friday shared a strange encounter after an officer pulled over a motorist allegedly seen swerving on a highway -- and found a pig in the front seat.

Chisago County sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Jason Foster responded to a report of someone swerving on Interstate 35, and when he stopped the pickup truck that had been flagged, Foster soon came upon the pig, who was sitting on the driver’s lap, according to FOX9.

BATS IN MINNESOTA DYING FROM ‘WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME’; AREAS OF STATE SEE DRAMATIC POPULATION DECLINE

“It was kind of shocking. He had this 250-pound pig on his lap. In fact, it was leaning against the steering wheel he was muscling the steering wheel to keep it in its lane,” Foster told the station.

The driver told Foster he was in the process of moving and didn’t want his pets to get cold in the back of the pickup truck. Foster let the driver and his porky passenger off the hook with a warning. He added that drivers who are worried about their pets shouldn’t let them sit on their lap while driving.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Let the pig lay in the back or put the pig in the passenger seat, whatever. Don't drive with a pig in your lap, either,” Foster said.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Timeline: Thailand’s turbulent politics over two decades

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra speaks to Reuters during an interview in Singapore
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra looks on as he speaks to Reuters during an interview in Singapore February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

March 22, 2019

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand has seen two coups, dueling street demonstrations and political instability over most of the past two decades, much of it centered around the divisive figure of Thaksin Shinawatra.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is preparing for a general election on Sunday, the first since a 2014 coup.

Here is a timeline of major events during the years of turmoil in the kingdom.

2001 – Telecoms tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai party sweeps elections, promising populist policies like universal healthcare, debt relief for farmers and lavish government spending, especially on the rural poor.

2003 – Thaksin launches a high-profile war on drugs during which, critics say, more than 2,500 people were summarily executed.

2005 – Thaksin’s party wins another election, increasing its share of seats in the 500-member lower House of Representatives to 377.

2006 – An anti-Thaksin protest movement, the People’s Alliance for Democracy, gains momentum after the Shinawatra family sells its telecommunications firm, Shin Corporation, to Singapore sovereign fund Temasek for 73 billion baht ($1.8 billion) tax-free using a capital gains loophole. Protesters also point to issues of conflict of interest.

In September, the military launches a coup against Thaksin while he is overseas, citing the need to end the protests.

2007 – The Thai Rak Thai party is ordered dissolved. Elections to restore democracy are won by a new party made up of Thaksin supporters, the People Power Party. Thaksin ally Samak Sundaravej becomes prime minister.

2008 – Thaksin returns to Thailand in February.

In September, a court removes Samak from office for accepting payments for a cooking show he hosted. Parliament elects Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law, as prime minister.

In October, a court finds Thaksin guilty of violating a conflict-of-interest law over land deal, sentencing him to two years in prison. Thaksin had left the country weeks before the conviction and has remained in self-exile since then.

“Yellow Shirt” protesters calling for the removal of Somchai descend on Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports in November, closing them for over a week. The protesters disperse after the Constitutional Court dissolves the People’s Power Party over a voter fraud case, removing Somchai as prime minister.

Members of parliament elect the Democrat Party’s Abhisit Vejjajiva as prime minister.

2009 – Pro-Thaksin demonstrators led by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, also known as “Red Shirts”, begin protests against Abhisit’s government, calling it unelected and illegitimate.

In April, protesters storm the site of an East Asia Summit, forcing leaders from Southeast Asia, China, Japan and South Korea to flee from the venue.

2010 – The Red Shirt protests paralyze Bangkok for months until a military crackdown, in which at least 90 people are killed, the deadliest clash between protesters and security forces since 1992.

2011 – New elections are won in a landslide by another new pro-Thaksin party, Pheu Thai. Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s younger sister, becomes prime minister.

2013 – Anti-government protesters, led by a top Democrat Party leader, choke the streets of Bangkok after Yingluck’s government introduces an amnesty bill that could have led to Thaksin’s return. The protests go on for months.

2014 – A court removes Yingluck as prime minister for abuse of power. Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan becomes caretaker prime minister. Demonstrations continue amid accusations that the Pheu Thai government is taking orders from Thaksin and calls for the Shinawatra family to be purged from politics.

On May 22, army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha stages a coup and a junta, the National Council for Peace and Order, seizes control. In August, Prayuth becomes prime minister and later retires as army chief.

2016 – King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies on Oct. 13 after a 70-year reign. His son becomes King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

2017 – In April, a military-backed constitution is ratified after being passed by a referendum and later revised by King Vajiralongkorn, paving the way for an election.

The Supreme Court in August finds Yingluck guilty of negligence in management of a rice subsidy scheme and hands down a five-year prison sentence. Yingluck does not show up for the verdict and flees Thailand.

2018 – The junta lifts the ban on political activity it had imposed after taking power.

March 24, 2019 – First general election since the 2014 coup.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by John Chalmers, Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

0 0

Democratic presidential candidates push Medicare-for-all ahead of 2020

As more Democrats enter the 2020 presidential race, many of the candidates are embracing a progressive issue they think will get them votes: universal healthcare.

“If you look at national polls and you ask people the most important issue that you think faces us in this country, No. 1 is healthcare,” said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University.

The issue is controversial and voters seem split on whether they support it. A recent Fox News poll shows that among registered voters 47 percent favor a national health insurance program.

Still, some candidates are rallying behind Medicare-for-all and even making it a central theme of their campaign.

“I will always support the philosophy of Medicare for all,” Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio told a crowd of voters in Dubuque, Iowa recently. “One of the first things I’d do if I am the president is pass Medicare at 55 or 50.”

At least eight out of 11 of the declared candidates support Medicare for all.

HOW MUCH WOULD 'MEDICARE FOR ALL" COST? DEMOCRATS' HEALTH CARE PLAN EXPLAINED

"I think that Americans deserve universal healthcare. I think citizens of most developing countries already enjoy this and I think it's crazy to suggest that Americans shouldn't be able to enjoy that same right," said South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg

More than 50 million people across the country are enrolled in Medicare, which provides health care for older Americans and persons with disabilities, costing an estimated $700 billion, according to data from Statista.

A George Mason University study puts the cost of ‘Medicare-for-all’ at more than $32 trillion over the course of the next decade. The anticipated cost is part of the reason why GOP leaders are against the idea.

Republicans said by embracing such a controversial topic, Democrats will hurt themselves.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“If Democrats want to force their incumbents in suburban districts to campaign for re-election on rationed care, abolishing people’s existing employer-provided health benefits in exchange for less medical coverage, reduced medical freedom and significant tax increases, we are happy to let them do so," said Wes Enos, chairman of the Polk County Republicans. "It will present a very clear contrast with the Republican message of lower taxes, job creation, economic prosperity and greater medical freedom.”

Not all Democrats running for president in the next election cycle agree with Medicare-for-all. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., believes in creating more options for consumers.

"What we would like to do is expand to have more options for people and I think that will bring prices down," she said. "And one way to do it is to expand Medicaid or Medicare."

BEWARE: MEDICARE-FOR-ALL IS FOOL'S GOLD

In key early states like Iowa, healthcare is a big issue for some voters.

“That’s one of my biggest interests this election,” Tiffanie Hodges said at a campaigning event for Cory Booker in Des Moines, Iowa early February. “I think it’s really important.”

It’s unclear whether the issue will help or hurt the candidates.

"Medicare works fairly well," Schmidt said. "We just have to make sure that we don't allow the expenses of it to get greater than the income that's flowing in."

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Rep. Jim Jordan: Democrats are ‘out to get’ President Trump with Mueller report demands

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, charged Tuesday Democrats' demands to see the full Mueller report without redactions showed they are “so committed to getting at this president” and “not focused on frankly doing what’s best for the country.”

“You got the chairman of the intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, saying ‘go ahead make public classified information’ and then you have the chairman of the judiciary committee saying ‘go ahead and make public grand jury material.’ Now that’s scary,” Jordan said on “Fox & Friends.”

“This is where they’re at because the Mueller report was not the bombshell that they had hoped it would be. But when you have the head of the intelligence committee, the head of the judiciary committee saying make public material that’s not supposed to get public, that’s not consistent with the law, that’s just wrong, just plain wrong.”

Democratic lawmakers, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-NY and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, have been demanding access in full to special counsel Robert Mueller's report in. Attorney General Bill Barr has said that he and the special counsel’s team are “well along in the process of identifying and redacting” sensitive material in the more than 300-page report and can likely have it to Congress by mid-April, “if not sooner.”

But Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are preparing to authorize subpoenas for the report this week, giving the panel the option to pursue that route if necessary.

TRUMP SAYS DEMS HAVE FORESAKEN MUELLER AFTER TREATING HIM AS 'GOD-LIKE' 

The report was first transmitted to Barr at the Justice Department last month. Barr issued a four-page initial summary of Mueller’s findings to Congress and to the public just days after. Barr’s summary said that the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 presidential election.

Immediately, Democrats began demanding to view the full Mueller report and underlying evidence that brought the special counsel to its decision.

Barr has indicated he does plan on sharing much of the report, noting that, with the help of the special counsel’s office, the Justice Department is reviewing material that “by law cannot be made public” -- covering “material the intelligence community identifies as potentially compromising sensitive sources and methods; material that could affect ongoing matters, including those that the Special Counsel has referred to other Department offices; and information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”

“Bill Barr said he will err on the side of transparency, he wants to release as much possible but he’s going to do it consistent with the law, which is what we should expect from an attorney general of the United States of America, “ Jordan said on “Fox and Friends."

“Understand that this report was not what they had hoped. First the Cohen hearing they had was a flop, then the Mueller report comes out, it’s not the bombshell they hoped. Remember what Bill Barr said special council Mueller found, no new indictments, no sealed indictments, no collusion, no obstruction. As definitive as you can get. And so now what they’re saying is 'we want to find something, we have to find something, cause we’re so committed to getting at this president and not focused on frankly doing what’s best for the country.'”

On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump blasted Nadler and Schiff on twitter.

“There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!” Trump tweeted.

Minutes later, Schiff fired back.

“The House voted 420-0 to release the full Mueller report to the public. The American people overwhelmingly support the same. What are you afraid of, Mr. President?” Schiff tweeted.

The Judiciary Committee cited “historical precedent” for the full release of the Mueller report—specifically Watergate, when a judge ordered a 55-page grand jury roadmap to be provided to the committee; and during the Ken Starr investigation of former President Bill Clinton, when a 455-page report, along with evidence including grand jury material, was provided to the panel.

On September 9, 1998, on PBS’ “Charlie Rose," Nadler said, “As a matter of decency and protecting people’s privacy rights, people who may be totally innocent, third parties, what must not be released at all,”  when talking about the Starr report on Clinton. “It’s grand jury material. It represents statements which may or may not be true by various witnesses, salacious material, all kinds of material that it would be unfair to release.” The clip aired on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday.

PRESIDENT TRUMP CALLS ON ADAM SCHIFF TO RESIGN, ACCUSES HIM OF 'KNOWINGLY AND UNLAWFULLY LYING AND LEAKING'

The president took to Twitter Tuesday morning to respond to the statements Nadler made more than a decade ago.

“In 1998, Rep. Jerry Nadler strongly opposed the release of the Starr report on Bill Clinton. No information whatsoever would or could be legally released. But with the NO COLLUSION Mueller Report, which the Dems hate, he wants it all. NOTHING WILL EVER SATISFY THEM! @foxandfriends”

“This is now about President Trump who they’re out to get,” said Jordan. “Again, this is the chairman of the judiciary, the long history the judiciary has in protecting fundamental liberties, fundamental rights and following the law and yet you now have the chairman saying ‘I don’t care. I don’t care. Give me everything we want to make public.’ That is what is so wrong.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He added, “It’s because Bill Barr’s letter spelling out what the special counsel found and the principal conclusions of his report was so strong for the president, complete vindication for the president, they are now, Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff and others are now saying ‘We got to have stuff that’s not consistent with how the rule of law works and has historically worked in this great country.’”

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Families of Ethiopian plane disaster victims steel themselves for journey to crash site

Chinese family and friends mourn victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash during a commemoration ceremony at the scene of the crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa
Chinese family and friends mourn victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash during a commemoration ceremony at the scene of the crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

March 14, 2019

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopians clad in traditional mourning shawls and other black clothing gathered silently in a hotel conference room in Addis Ababa on Thursday, the loved ones of victims of ET Flight 302, before boarding buses headed for the crash site.

Couples held each other, slumped forward in their chairs and gazing downwards. Some men held their heads in their hands. Women in head scarves leaned for comfort against the chests of their relatives.

Some stood up to ask questions. They said they wanted more “transparency” from the airlines and more details of Sunday’s accident.

An airlines staff member replied that the crash was under investigation and that more details were emerging day by day.

A stoic man in a dark coat said he was steeling himself for the three-hour journey to the crash site.

Tewfik Ahmed, 39, was raised by the father of Ahmed Nur Mohammed, the deputy pilot of ET 302. Tewfik traveled from his home in the south of the country to pay his respects.

“Ahmed was the pride of the family,” he told Reuters, seated alongside several other mourners. “Heading to the site is the least I can do for him.”

All 149 passengers and eight crew aboard the flight were killed when their Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed six minutes after taking off from the high-altitude capital of Ethiopia. The nation of 105 million people has long been proud of its state-owned airlines, its most successful company and the only profitable airline in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nine Ethiopians were killed in the crash, along with 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, and eight people each from China and Italy. A total of 35 nationalities were on board.

The mourners gathered at the Ethiopian Airlines-owned Skylight Hotel near Bole International Airport. Some held up framed photographs of young loved ones.

The room filled over the course of a half hour, becoming a packed, makeshift grieving center.

An Ethiopian Airlines staff member, also wearing black, told the mourners it was offering them free accommodation. She also said the company would provide counseling. The staff members were flanked by bouquets of white roses and white candles.

BLACK BOXES FLOWN TO PARIS

The embassies of Canada, China, and Kenya had also asked Ethiopian Airlines to set up conference rooms for the families of victims from their countries. Early on Thursday morning, those rooms contained the national flags of those countries, but no relatives or friends of the victims.

The airline said on Twitter that an Ethiopian delegation had flown the black boxes from flight ET 302 to Paris for investigation. The contents of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder will provide critical details about what happened, experts say.

The crash was the second disaster involving the 737 MAX, the world’s most-sold modern passenger aircraft, in less than five months, and by the end of Wednesday, the jet had been grounded globally by regulators and airlines.

The jet plunged into a field 60 km outside Addis Ababa, and the impact of the crash and fire left the victims’ remains in fragments that could take weeks or months to identify, experts say.

In both the Ethiopian Orthodox and Muslim faiths that are widely practised in the country, religious rules call for the burial of the dead as soon as possible.

Hamze Abdi Hussein came from the eastern Ethiopian town of Jijiga with five other family members after receiving confirmation of the crash that killed his uncle, Mucaad Hussein Abdela, a truck driver from Minnesota who was on his way to Kenya to visit relatives.

“We visited the crash site yesterday and we are heading there today. It is a huge loss for us,” he told Reuters. “The fact that there is no information about whether we will receive the body or not is frustrating and painful. There is not much that we are getting.”

After the brief Q and A session, the Ethiopian mourners filed silently out of the room and slowly boarded the convoy of eight Ethiopian Airlines buses.

The mourners looked like travelers themselves. Except they carried no luggage, only items to honor the dead in their final resting place.

(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist