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Thomson Reuters posts 9 percent rise in quarterly revenue

FILE PHOTO: CEO Jim Smith speaks during the Thomson Reuters annual general meeting for shareholders in Toronto
FILE PHOTO: Thomson Reuters CEO Jim Smith speaks during the Thomson Reuters Corp. annual general meeting for shareholders in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo

February 26, 2019

TORONTO (Reuters) – Thomson Reuters on Tuesday reported a 9 percent rise in quarterly revenue, stripping out the impact of currency, helped by higher sales at its Legal and Tax & Accounting businesses.

The news and information provider reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.52 billion, compared with $1.41 billion a year ago. Earnings excluding special items were 20 cents per share, down from 22 cents per share a year ago.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: OANN

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Your Money: Pay yourself first? Last is how small biz often works

An employee of a bank counts US dollar notes at a branch in Hanoi
FILE PHOTO - An employee of a bank counts US dollar notes at a branch in Hanoi, Vietnam May 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kham

March 12, 2019

By Beth Pinsker

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Everyone knows the Golden Rule of business is to pay yourself first. But more than half of small business owners are going months without pay – if they are taking any at all.

About a quarter of these entrepreneurs go two to six months without pay, and another quarter have gone more than six months without salary, according to a recent survey from Kabbage (http://kabbage.com), a cash flow optimization platform.

The small business payroll servicer Gusto (http://gusto.com) finds even more ups and down for its clients. Data on 449 owners shared exclusively with Reuters show that only a handful pulled any paycheck at all in 2018, and the size of the checks varied greatly, with the highest amounts taken in summer.

Average pay chart: https://tmsnrt.rs/2NWSnsR

The biggest month for an owner’s draw in 2018 was December, with 73 business owners taking checks, and a median check of $5,944, according to Gusto spokesman Rick Chen. The lowest draws were in January, with just 26 owners taking pay, for an average of just $1,991.

“It’s tough. People have to budget,” said Mike Savage, a certified public accountant (CPA) and chief executive officer of 1-800Accountant (http://1800accountant.com), which offers financial services to small business owners. “We encourage people to budget accordingly – plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

GETTING BY

Tony Hernandez, owner of Cienfuegos Cuban Cafe in Simi Valley, California, is among those who have not taken a paycheck at all.

Since he started his food business over three years ago, he has earned tips, but otherwise it all goes back into the business. Some expenses, like his car and gas, get billed through the company. His wife’s job covers living costs and provides health insurance for them and their two kids.

“I don’t know how else I would be able to do something like this without my wife,” said Hernandez, 46.

For Hernandez, long-term planning is less about retirement than about expanding to a second location, with the ultimate dream of a stall at the Los Angeles airport.

“The way I look at my business is: I’m fully invested in this to make it work. That’s investing in my retirement,” said Hernandez.

What keeps Joanne Sonenshine up at night has been the inability to plan. The 42-year-old runs a partnership advisory company in Washington called Connective Impact that helps connect companies to investments with social impact. She regularly takes a salary, but often has to pause it, depending on when clients pay.

The partial U.S. government shutdown at the beginning of the year was particularly crippling, because many of her clients depend on federal funding. Two big contracts disappeared suddenly.

“A huge amount of money went up in smoke. I can’t catch up with that,” said Sonenshine. “You start to worry if you can make it. There’s the fear of failure, the fear of letting your family down. What happens if I can’t pay my taxes? Will the IRS come after me?”

NEW TAX LAW

This is, indeed, a daunting year for small business taxes. The Tax Cuts & Job Acts passed in 2017 created a new 20 percent deduction for individuals earning business income – but the fine print is complicated. Those paying quarterly taxes in 2018 before all the rules were sorted out may have to make adjustments. That is on top of the difficulty of figuring out quarterly tax payments on fluctuating income.

“With the new tax law, there’s even more incentive for the self-employed entrepreneur to pay themselves less,” said Savage, because they will avoid payroll taxes and other withholdings and boost their deduction.

While more careful cash management may help control the symptoms, this may be one problem for which there is no cure. Most businesses run on small margins, and they are always expanding so as not to stagnate.

“We’ll always been chasing our tails, in effect,” said Rich Patterson, who runs his own marketing company that makes custom products in Vancouver, Canada.

Patterson, 48, had to pause his pay over the summer, when there was a worrisome lag. “I watch the sales figure really closely, and I knew we were having a good year. It didn’t seem to match up why we were having cash flow problems,” Patterson said.

The choice became paying himself and contributing to retirement or paying his staff. “Honestly, it’s just not possible to pay yourself first,” Patterson said. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if other people are losing out.”

(Editing by Lauren Young and Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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A look at the field: Major players in Israel’s elections

It's a crowded field in Israel's elections as over 40 parties will be slugging it out on Tuesday for seats in the country's parliament.

There is the right-wing flagship, centrist newcomers, ultra-Orthodox parties, Arab parties and fringe movements. But only a handful will win the necessary 3.25 percent of total votes cast to cross the electoral threshold needed to enter the Knesset.

Israeli democracy operates on a parliamentary system of proportional-representation in which the government needs a majority to rule. Since no party has ever earned more than 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, a coalition is required.

Polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist Likud in fierce competition with the centrist Blue and White party. Both camps are trying to rile up their bases to become the largest party in parliament while also convincing the smaller parties to join them in a coalition after the results become known.

Here's a look at the major players:

LONG-RULING LIKUD

Israel's conservative Likud party has dominated the political stage since 1977 with only a few exceptions, and it has controlled government for the past decade in large part thanks to Netanyahu's personality cult and strong base.

Netanyahu has brazenly allied himself with Israeli settlers and courted nationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties for his current coalition.

In past elections, Likud has depended on a groundswell of populist support from Mizrahi, or Middle Eastern, Jews who harbor deep-seated resentment toward Israel's European-descended founding elite and their social democratic brand of politics.

This constituency appears poised to support Netanyahu again, despite the attorney general's intention to indict him on three serious corruption charges.

If Netanyahu wins another term, he will be on track to become the longest serving leader in Israeli history. He'll also have to simultaneously lead the state while fighting criminal charges against him.

___

THE CENTRIST VANGUARD

Ex-army chief Benny Gantz shook up the scene when he announced the formation of a new party earlier this year, and several weeks later, when he formed a partnership with centrist politician and former television host Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid. Their joint Blue and White list presents the first viable challenge to Netanyahu's long rule.

If elected, Gantz would lead the government for the first two and a half years with Lapid taking over for the rest of the term.

The new coalition of centrists and former military officers has sought to mobilize a united front to oust the scandal-plagued Netanyahu, carrying the mantle of clean government, economic reform and respect for Israel's state institutions.

Gantz and his slate talk tough about standing up to Iran and striking Palestinian militants to appeal to hard-liners but have also hinted they won't foreclose future peace negotiations.

Although Blue and White has inched ahead of Likud in some polls, the party may find it more difficult to recruit suitable coalition partners.

___

THE NEW RIGHT

A pair of nationalist ministers, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, ditched their religious Jewish Home party and formed the "New Right" to attract a broader range of secular but still staunchly pro-settler voters.

They've promised to join Likud's coalition, along with a handful of other right-wing and religious parties, but their sudden maneuver hints that their political aspirations may extend beyond Netanyahu's corruption-stained rule.

Bennett, often the first to slam Netanyahu for his failure to deter Gaza rockets, is jostling for the position of defense minister.

As justice minister, Shaked has clashed with the Supreme Court, which she views as a bastion of the Israeli left that unfairly curtails her party's nationalistic agenda.

Their sardonic campaign ads have stirred online debate, including one that features Shaked spritzing herself with a faux perfume called "Fascism."

___

THE OLD LEFT

The venerable Labor party, once Israel's largest faction that founded the state and promoted a statehood deal with the Palestinians, has languished under decades of Likud rule and an impasse in the peace process. It now appears overtaken by Blue and White and can only hope to join a coalition led by the new front-runner of the center-left bloc.

The liberal Zionist Union party dramatically split early this year after Labor leader Avi Gabbay announced the end of his party's union with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, embarrassing her on live television. Livni subsequently bowed out of politics, ending her storied 20-year career.

___

THE CONTROVERSIAL ALLIANCE

The religious Zionist party Bennett once headed, Jewish Home, has joined forces with Jewish Power, a far-right faction inspired by the banned Kahanist movement, branded a terrorist organization by the U.S. for an extremist agenda that includes forced expulsion of Palestinians.

Netanyahu helped cut the deal in order to give the parties a better shot at passing the parliamentary threshold and serving as a potential coalition partner.

Both at home and abroad, Netanyahu's overture to Jewish Power drew sharp condemnation.

___

THE ARAB VOTE

Arab parties, which represent over 20 percent of Israel's citizens, could help sway the vote — if their constituents vote.

In the last election cycle, four Arab factions joined forces into a single list, energizing voters and winning a record number seats in the Knesset — 13. But this year, political infighting split the slate, which looks likely to cut away at their overall numbers.

Low turnout could also be an issue. Netanyahu's campaign against Arab politicians, seen as incitement in the Arab sector, together with the new alliance with anti-Arab extremists and the passage of last year's contentious nation-state law, which enshrined Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people alone, have deepened calls for a ballot boycott in Arab communities.

But some hope these blows will have the opposite effect, fueling enough frustration to drive up the Arab participation rate. That could complicate Netanyahu's attempts to form a coalition as he fights for a fourth consecutive term.

Source: Fox News World

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Islamic Terrorist Behind Planned Maryland Truck Attack Wanted to Kill as Many “Disbelievers” as Possible

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Source: InfoWars

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Cheney rips Dems for lack of action taken against Omar for comments

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., continued her attack on Sunday on last week’s Democratic resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other bigotry – saying that it was nothing more than a move to protect Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., by not calling her out by name.

Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in House, was one of the few – and certainly the most prominent – members of the GOP to break with the party to oppose the resolution last Thursday. At the time she labeled it "a sham put forward by Democrats to avoid condemning one of their own and denouncing vile anti-Semitism."

Speaking on Sunday to NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Cheney doubled-down on her comments.

REP. ILHAN OMAR SLAMS BARACK OBAMA'S MESSAGE OF 'HOPE AND CHANGE' AS A 'MIRAGE'

“Look, I think there are two ways we could have gone,” she said. “Some of the people in our conference clearly looked at it and said there’s nothing objectionable in the resolution. My statement made clear that that was my view as well. But I decided to vote against it because I think it was really clearly an effort to actually protect Ilhan Omar, to cover up her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her.”

Omar, a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota, has been at the center of a political firestorm almost since the day she took office for a series of comments that have been anti-Semitic and highly critical of the state of Israel.

The one-sided 407-23 vote on Thursday belied the emotional infighting over how to respond to Omar's recent comments suggesting House supporters of Israel have dual allegiances. For days, Democrats wrestled with whether or how to punish the lawmaker, arguing over whether Omar, one of two Muslim women in Congress, should be singled out, what other types of bias should be decried in the text and whether the party would tolerate dissenting views on Israel.

Cheney, who led the effort to remove controversial Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, from his committee posts after making numerous remarks that she deemed “abhorrent and racist,” has questioned why Democratic leaders have not acted in a similar manner with Omar.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The Democrats have yet to take any action to remove her from her committee,” she said. “And they’ve got a real problem. I mean, the extent to which they’re abiding by anti-Semitism, enabling anti-Semitism in their party. It’s something we watch them struggle with, but something that’s dangerous for the country. I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to stand up and do the right thing.”

She added: “It is absolutely shameful that Nancy Pelosi and Leader [Steny] Hoyer and the Democratic leaders will not put her name in a resolution on the floor and condemn her remarks and remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Those people who won’t condemn it are enabling it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Media Buzz: Media's Betomania boosts O'Rourke, magazine cover boy, for 2020

Vanity Fair describes Beto O'Rourke as undergoing "a near-mystical experience."

It was in a packed house during his failed Senate campaign, O'Rourke told the magazine: "I don't ever prepare a speech. I don't write out what I'm going to say. I remember driving to that, I was, like, 'What do I say? Maybe I'll just introduce myself. I'll take questions.' I got in there, and I don't know if it's a speech or not, but it felt amazing. Because every word was pulled out of me. Like, by some greater force, which was just the people there. Everything that I said, I was, like, watching myself, being like, How am I saying this stuff? Where is this coming from?"

What's nearly mystical is the glowing coverage that O'Rourke has been getting from much of the media. In fact, he's the first presidential candidate in American history to tie his announcement to a Vanity Fair cover (complete with Annie Leibowitz photos).

And the pull quote that has defined his launch: "Man, I'm just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment."

BETO O'ROURKE SAYS HE'D SUSPEND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AT FEDERAL LEVEL

O'Rourke might catch fire in this personality-driven Trump era, but he could just as easily flame out. As the Vanity Fair piece noted of the man who did an Instagram video from the dentist's chair, "O'Rourke's radical openness can also look like naïveté ... Skeptics question whether O'Rourke's political transcendentalism can sustain the meat grinder of a national election."

The liberal Slate ran a piece titled "Beto 2020 Has No Reason to Exist," saying that whatever his talents, "Beto is missing one important thing ... an actual reason to run."

A New York Times story put it this way:

"Mr. O'Rourke also comes to the 2020 race with few notable legislative accomplishments after three terms in the House representing El Paso. And in a primary so far defined by big-ticket policy ideas, like the economic agendas of Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Mr. O'Rourke enters without a signature proposal that might serve as the ideological anchor of his bid."

So how much does that matter, along with the fact that he doesn't yet have a campaign manager or even skeletal staff?

Obviously, he can raise money — he took in more than $80 million in the contest against Ted Cruz — but O'Rourke is selling himself and his optimistic attitude more than any policy position. He is, however, a center-left capitalist who would be competing more with Joe Biden than with Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren.

O'ROURKE TAKES HEAT FOR WEBSITE'S DIFFERENT MESSAGES IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

The former congressman is consistently vague on policy prescriptions. I listened yesterday when he was asked if he supports Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal. He waxed eloquently about the need for action against climate change but completely sidestepped the legislation (despite some headlines to the contrary.)

And in a recent Washington Post interview that he now says he regrets, O'Rourke said when asked about the immigration problem: "I don't know."

O’Rourke's arrest in a drunk-driving accident two decades ago, which led to the suspension of his license, will undoubtedly come up in the campaign. He told Vanity Fair that after his father bailed him out of jail, "you just feel like a total piece of s---, and you kind of are."

After losing to Cruz, says Vanity Fair, "O'Rourke experienced a post-election depression" like the one he had after winning a House seat in 2012. "He had lost weight, his joints ached, and a stress fracture in his foot curtailed his running regimen. He exercised on his rowing machine and went on his somewhat infamous road trip to interact with regular Americans, trying to work his way through a self-described 'funk' over his loss."

OPINION: WHY BETO O'ROURKE COULD BE DEMS' 2020 NOMINEE AGAINST TRUMP

It will be a funky candidacy, that's for sure.

There is something of a media bubble surrounding O'Rourke, a onetime punk rocker who, for all the pundit chatter, has low name ID nationally.

But O'Rourke has more Hill experience than Barack Obama did in 2008, and one refreshing thing he does is focus on the future rather than spending most of his time bashing the president.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

There is this telling graf in the Vanity Fair profile:

"O'Rourke also sells a kind of cult of personality of his own, offering himself as the David to Trump's Goliath, a folk hero for our time. He acknowledges that what has made Trump successful is also what has made him successful — an outsider who 'bent the media to his campaign,' as he puts it."

Beto seems to have the bending-the-media part down pat. But there is a huge difference between running against Ted Cruz and taking on a dozen Democrats in a crowded field.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Pompeo pays pre-election visit to Israel, cites close Trump-Netanyahu ties

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they deliver joint statements during their meeting in Jerusalem
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they deliver joint statements during their meeting in Jerusalem March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young/Pool

March 20, 2019

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showcased his close relationship with the Trump administration on Wednesday, hosting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo three weeks before an Israeli election.

Washington’s announcement that President Donald Trump, a popular figure among Israelis, had invited Netanyahu to the White House for talks and a dinner two weeks ahead of the April 9 vote was also widely seen in Israel as a boost for the right-wing Likud party chief.

Following a visit to Kuwait, Pompeo met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where both men hailed U.S.-Israeli ties under Trump, a popular figure among Israelis and a leader whom the prime minister has featured on election billboards.

“We also know that our alliance in recent years has never been stronger,” Netanyahu said in comments to reporters, with Pompeo at his side.

Netanyahu is battling for his political survival against both a strong challenger in centrist candidate Benny Gantz and against plans by Israel’s attorney-general to indict the prime minister, now in his fourth term, in three corruption cases.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and portrayed himself in the election race as a leader with a wealth of international diplomatic experience that Gantz, a former armed forces chief and novice politician, cannot match.

“I look forward to my visit next week to Washington, where I will meet with President Trump, and I believe we can carry this relationship even stronger,” Netanyahu said. “It’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”

Angering Palestinians and drawing international concern, Trump broke with decades of U.S. Middle East policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy, which Pompeo will visit on Thursday, to the city last May.

Pompeo, in his remarks, said the Israeli people should have confidence that Trump – who is due to present a peace plan after the Israeli ballot – will maintain a “close bond” with Israel.

“I know that you and the president have an outstanding working relationship,” Pompeo said, addressing Netanyahu. “He sent me here to build upon that and to represent him here.”

Netanyahu said he and Pompeo, at the start of their discussions, examined how to “roll back Iranian aggression” in the region.

Pressure on Iran, Netanyahu said, must be intensified now that the United States has reimposed sanctions on Tehran following Washington’s withdrawal from a 2015 deal with world powers to limit the Iranian nuclear program.

Pompeo and Netanyahu later attended a meeting in Jerusalem with leaders from Cyprus and Greece on the construction of a 2,000 km (1,243 mile) gas pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe through those countries and Italy at a cost of $7 billion.

Lebanon – Pompeo’s next stop – has warned its Mediterranean neighbors that the planned EastMed pipeline must not be allowed to violate its maritime borders.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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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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