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Ford names company veterans to lead auto, mobility units

FILE PHOTO: Ford Motor Executive Vice President and President of the Americas Joe Hinrichs addresses the audience during the 100-year celebration of the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn
FILE PHOTO: Ford Motor Executive Vice President and President of the Americas Joe Hinrichs addresses the audience during the 100-year celebration of the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan U.S. September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

April 10, 2019

(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co on Wednesday named two company veterans to lead its auto and mobility businesses as the No.2 U.S. automaker shifts its focus to autonomous vehicles and realigns its automobile portfolio.

Joe Hinrichs was named president of its automotive unit and Jim Farley as president, new businesses, technology & strategy, effective May 1. Both the executives will report to Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett, the company said.

“In the past two years, we have made tangible progress in improving the fitness of our business, overhauled our regional strategies, created a winning product portfolio, and are working to transform Ford to succeed in an era of profound change and disruption,” Hackett said.

(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Source: OANN

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Biden to take the plunge on Wednesday

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On the roster: Biden to take the plunge on Wednesday - Voter intensity through the roof - Mueller report spares Trump, but leaves a mark - Committed to life

BIDEN TO TAKE THE PLUNGE ON WEDNESDAY
AP: “Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce he’s running for president next week. That's according to three people with knowledge of Biden's plans. Biden, a native of Scranton, will enter the race as a Democratic front-runner, although the 76-year-old faces questions about his age and whether his more moderate record fits with a party that has become more liberal. The announcement is expected as early as Wednesday and would cap months of deliberation over his political future.”

Biden supporters prep for his announcement - WHYY: “Some of Philadelphia’s most prominent Democrats, including former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former Mayor Michael Nutter, and Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David L. Cohen are planning a fundraiser for former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential bid ‘within a day or two of his formal announcement.’ Cohen sent an email to potential contributors Wednesday soliciting donations of $2,800, the maximum federal primary contribution for the event. … Cohen said a group wants to ‘make a big Philadelphia statement’ if Biden does announce, and says he’s pulled together a ‘Philadelphia finance leadership team’ including Rendell, Nutter, former U.S. Rep. and Philadelphia Democratic City Committee Chairman Bob Brady, former state Sen. Connie Williams, developer Ron Rubin, Independence Blue Cross CEO Dan Hilferty, and attorneys Steve Cozen, Charisse Lillie, and Ken Jarin, ‘with others to follow.’”

Cultivates his union roots - Politico: “Joe Biden said on Thursday that it was time to ‘take back’ the country and treat the middle class with respect, as the former vice president warms up for a likely 2020 presidential run. ‘I’m getting so sick and tired of the way everybody’s being treated,’ Biden told a crowd of striking union workers here. ‘We will take back this country. … I mean it. Don’t give up. Keep it going.’ Biden made the remarks at a union rally in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, where some of the 31,000 union workers for the New England-based Stop & Shop supermarket chain walked off the job last week after contract negotiations fell apart. He laid out a vision for ‘decent health care,’ a ‘fair wage’ and retirement during his 10-minute speech in the rain. The appearance was Biden’s latest trip to fire up pro-union Democrats.”

VOTER INTENSITY THROUGH THE ROOF
Fox News: “More than three-quarters of voters are already interested in the 2020 presidential election, including over half, 52 percent, who are ‘extremely’ interested, according to the latest Fox News Poll. That matches interest levels typically seen only in the last weeks before Election Day. The enthusiasm is on both sides. Fifty-seven percent of voters who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 are ‘extremely’ interested in the upcoming election, as are 57 percent of Donald Trump voters, and two-thirds of self-identified ‘very conservatives’ (67 percent) and ‘very liberals’ (65 percent). Democratic primary voters are upbeat about many of their options. Nearly 8 in 10 would be satisfied with Joe Biden (78 percent) or Bernie Sanders (75 percent) winning the nomination, while 6 in 10 would be happy with Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren (each 61 percent). … Still, there is room for opinions to change for these candidates, as at least 3 in 10 primary voters don’t know enough about each to have an opinion.”

Reparations for descendants of slaves emerges as litmus test - Elle: “With the 2020 presidential election entering full swing, one topic is emerging as a new litmus test for candidates: whether they support reparations, or the concept of providing restitution to descendants of American slaves, partially as a way to account for the current wealth gaps that exist as a direct result of slavery and systemic discrimination. … While the subject has not been popular among candidates in the past (both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton refrained from endorsing reparations), it's become a common question asked of the 2020 prospects. And many (including Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tulsi Gabbard, and Beto O'Rourke) have voiced their support for a recent House bill from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee that would form a commission to ‘study the impact of slavery and continuing discrimination against African-Americans, resulting directly and indirectly from slavery to segregation to the desegregation process and the present day…’”

Dems divided over ethics of fundraising - The Atlantic: “The 2020 race for the White House will undoubtedly be a battle both of ideology and personality. But it is also shaping up as a clash of two opposing forces: the ever-expanding, $1 billion industry that is a modern presidential campaign, and the Democratic Party’s move away from the top-down approach to fundraising that has fueled American politics for decades. So far, the progressive push toward campaign-finance purity is winning, and that’s worrying Democrats who believe the party literally can’t afford to leave money on the table if it wants to defeat President Donald Trump next year. The three most prolific fundraisers in the sprawling Democratic presidential primary field—Senators Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris and former Representative Beto O’Rourke—hauled in just under $40 million total in the first quarter of 2019. That was enough to easily surpass the $30 million that the Trump campaign added to its coffers.”

Warren builds big staff - WGBH: “Elizabeth Warren has been on a hiring spree. In the three months since launching her presidential campaign fresh with the new year, the Massachusetts senator has put 160 people onto her payroll — nearly two a day through the end of March. That puts her well ahead of her rivals in staffing. It's an advantage that also brings challenges. Some personnel came over from her Senate and political operations, including campaign manager Roger Lau, chief of staff Dan Geldon, senior advisor for planning Kaaren Hinck, communications director Kristen Orthman, and digital director Lauren Miller. Warren has added plenty of new faces as wel[l]. … But that’s just the top levels. What separates her from other presidential candidates in the crowded 2020 Democratic field are the dozens of organizers, researchers, designers, media professionals, and operations aides she’s already put on staff.”

THE RULEBOOK: GOOD FRUITS
“I believe it may be laid down as a general rule that their confidence in and obedience to a government will commonly be proportioned to the goodness or badness of its administration.” –  Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 27

TIME OUT: SOME BEEF WITH FAKE BEEF
Eater: “It happened slowly, and then all at once. First came White Castle’s Impossible slider, which Eater NY’s Ryan Sutton hailed as ‘one of America’s best fast-food burgers’ in 2018. That slider just happened to be meatless, containing an Impossible Foods-branded patty made from soy protein, potato protein, coconut oil, sunflower oil, and heme, the ingredient that gives the burger the taste, aroma, and ‘bleed’ of a juicy beef patty. Then, the floodgates opened: In January, Carl’s Jr. became the largest American fast-food chain to offer plant-based patties made by Beyond Meat in 1,100 locations nationwide; just a few months later, Burger King, Del Taco, and the fast-casual chain Qdoba have followed suit with fake-meat offerings of their own, from Whoppers to tacos to burrito bowls. But conspicuously missing from the growing list of fast-food chains offering plant-based ‘meats’ produced by brands like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat is McDonald’s, the biggest quick-service chain in the U.S.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval: 42.8 percent
Average disapproval: 52 percent
Net Score: -9.2 points
Change from one week ago: down 0.4 points 
[Average includes: Fox News: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; Monmouth University: 40% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; GU Politics/Battleground: 43% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove.]

MUELLER REPORT SPARES TRUMP, BUT LEAVES A MARK
NYT: “Although the resulting two-year investigation ended without charges against Mr. Trump, [Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s] report painted a damning portrait of a White House dominated by a president desperate to thwart the inquiry only to be restrained by aides equally desperate to thwart his orders. The White House that emerges from more than 400 pages of Mr. Mueller’s report is a hotbed of conflict infused by a culture of dishonesty — defined by a president who lies to the public and his own staff, then tries to get his aides to lie for him. Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened to fire lieutenants who did not carry out his wishes while they repeatedly threatened to resign rather than cross lines of propriety or law.”

Sanders takes heat for White House ‘culture of lying’ - Fox News: "‘Good Morning America’ host George Stephanopoulos grilled press secretary Sarah Sanders Friday on the allegations that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report exposed a culture of lying at the White House. Stephanopoulos showed a clip from a press conference when Sanders told reporters that ‘countless members of the FBI’ had lost confidence in FBI Director James Comey, which led to his firing.”

Dems vow to ‘hold Trump accountable’ - ABC News: “Within minutes of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler announced he would subpoena the Justice Department for a full, unredacted version even as Republicans celebrated the findings of the special counsel and urged Democrats to ‘move on’ from the Russia investigation. ‘We clearly can't believe what Attorney General Barr tells us,’ Nadler, D-N.Y., told reporters at a news conference in New York City Thursday afternoon. ‘The special counsel made clear that he did not exonerate the president and the responsibility now falls to Congress to hold the president accountable for his actions.’ When asked if Congress holding President Donald Trump ‘accountable’ means impeachment, Nadler said ‘that is one possibility’ as he believes the report ‘was probably written with the intent of providing Congress a road map,’ but he added ‘it’s too early to reach those conclusions.’”

But Republicans say ‘game over’ - Politico: “Republicans have one message following the conclusion of Robert Mueller’s probe: Move on. With no criminal charges against the president, many GOP lawmakers on Thursday gleefully watched Attorney General William Barr repeat their oft-repeated lines of ‘no collusion’ to a national audience. Even before the formal release of Mueller’s 400-page report — which contained damaging information about President Donald Trump — congressional Republicans celebrated the end to a nearly two-year investigation that has hung like a dark cloud over Trump’s presidency. And they’re ready to turn it into the first day of their 2020 election. A picture tweeted out by Trump, set to a ‘Game of Thrones’ style backdrop, summed it up: ‘Game over.’”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Chad Pergram: We’ve only just begun - Fox News

Kathryn Cramer Brownell: ‘The key to President Trump’s fate isn’t the Mueller report. It’s the hearings to come’ - WaPo

David French: ‘The Mueller report should shock our conscience’ - National Review

Jonathan Swan: ‘The other Don: McGahn is one of the Mueller report's biggest stars’ - Axios

Chicago Tribune: ‘What you thought of Trump before is likely your opinion now’ - ChiTrib

David Brooks: ‘What the Mueller report says about our world’ - NYT

AUDIBLE: REPLACE CARTRIDGE
“Today is a good day to sell toner for printers” – Dana Perino tweeted Thursday morning before the release of the redacted Mueller report.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
This weekend Mr. Sunday will sit down with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and President Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Watch “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.

#mediabuzz - Host Howard Kurtz has the latest take on the week’s media coverage. Watch #mediabuzz Sundays at 11 a.m. ET.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

COMMITTED TO LIFE
KATU: “A World War II veteran and former pastor celebrated his 98th birthday on Wednesday with a community of friends he found while working out regularly at a gym in Gladstone. Even at 98 years old, Fred Lawrence hits the gym three days a week. ‘It makes me feel good, like I’m strengthening what’s here,’ the retired Marine said. Fred is a WWII veteran, who survived three tours of duty and went on to be a pastor. ‘I’m so grateful to be alive, in this day, that I was committed to live. The good Lord is good, I just feel like he was with me. I’m so grateful,’ Fred tells KATU.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“History is tragic, not redemptive. Our holiday from history ended in fire, giving birth to a post-9/11 decade of turbulence and disorientation as we were faced with the unexpected resurgence of radical eschatological evil.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Dec. 18, 2009.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Liz Friden contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Fed still ‘patient’ on rates, mulling balance sheet policy: minutes

FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 10, 2019

By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) – – Federal Reserve policymakers debated how to manage the U.S. central bank’s massive holding of bonds while agreeing to be patient about any changes to interest rate policy, according to the minutes from their March 19-20 meeting.

The minutes, released on Wednesday, show the Fed saw the U.S. economy weathering a global economic slowdown, and policymakers made clear they saw no recession for the United States in the new few years.

But some policymakers said they could change their minds on whether the Fed’s next move should be to raise or lower rates.

“Several participants noted that their views of the appropriate target range for the federal funds rate could shift in either direction based on incoming data,” according to the minutes.

While policymakers noted that the U.S. labor market appeared strong, some expressed concern about weakness and said a “deterioration” in the U.S. economy could be amplified by large debt burdens at American companies, according to the minutes.

The Fed took a sharply less aggressive policy posture at its March policy meeting, signaling it will not hike rates this year amid a slowing economy and announcing a plan to end its balance sheet reduction program by September.

A significant portion of the policymakers’ discussion outlined in the minutes was devoted to how to wind down the Fed’s balance sheet and how to manage it when that process is over.

Some policymakers suggested the Fed should discuss the costs and benefits of new tools for reducing demand for reserves parked at the U.S. central bank, according to the minutes.

The discussion also included comments by several policymakers that the Fed might need to stabilize the level of reserves soon after it finishes its balance sheet runoff. That would involve resuming the purchase of U.S. Treasury securities, according to the minutes.

(Reporting by Jason Lange Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: OANN

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Exxon Mobil makes new oil discovery offshore Guyana

Logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO - A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

April 18, 2019

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday the U.S. oil major along with its partners have made an oil discovery offshore Guyana, which adds to the previously estimated 5.5 billion barrels of oil-equivalent.

The discovery was in the Turbot area of Stabroek Block, which is expected to become a major development hub, Exxon said.

This is the thirteenth discovery on the block, which is part of one of the biggest oil discoveries in the world in the last decade.

Hess Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corporation are part of the consortium.

(Reporting by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)

Source: OANN

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Kamala Harris gives awkward response when asked about Jussie Smollett claims

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris appeared to be caught off guard Monday when she was asked about the latest developments in the alleged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett.

During an appearance at a bookstore in Concord, N.H., a female reporter asked the senator from California if she wanted to amend a tweet from Jan. 29, in which she said Smollett was the victim of "an attempted modern day lynching" and called the actor "one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know."

"Which tweet? What tweet?" Harris asked. As the reporter specified the tweet in question, Harris appeared to look around for a campaign staffer before responding.

"OK, so, I will say this about that case," she said. "I think that the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I’m very, um, concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened.

CORY BOOKER 'WITHHOLDING' JUDGMENT ON SMOLLETT CASE AFTER CALLING IT 'ATTEMPTED MODERN DAY LYNCHING'

"And it’s something we should all take seriously whenever anyone, um, alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation," Harris added. "And I think that once the investigation has concluded then we can all comment, but I’m not going to comment until I know the outcome of the investigation."

On Sunday, Harris' fellow senator and Democratic presidential candidate, Cory Booker, told reporters he would "withhold" judgment on the matter "until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources." Booker also referred to the alleged Jan. 29 attack on Smollett as "an attempted modern-day lynching" and pushed Congress to pass legislation making lynching a federal hate crime.

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Smollett, who is black and openly gay, claimed he was assaulted by two men who yelled racist and anti-gay slurs-- as well as the phrase "This is MAGA country!" -- as Smollett was walking to his Chicago apartment. Chicago police arrested and questioned two Nigerian brothers in the alleged attack, but released them on Friday without charges. Investigators said they've requested a follow-up interview with Smollett, but the actor's representatives said there have been no plans to meet with police for the time being.

The Chicago Police Department repeatedly has declined to confirm local media reports that the attack was staged.

Fox News' Mariah Haas contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Physicists Constrain Dark Matter

Researchers from Russia, Finland, and the U.S. have put a constraint on the theoretical model of dark matter particles by analyzing data from astronomical observations of active galactic nuclei.

The new findings provide an added incentive for research groups around the world trying to crack the mystery of dark matter: No one is quite sure what it is made of. The paper was published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

The question of what particles make up dark matter is a crucial one for modern particle physics. Despite the expectations that dark matter particles would be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider, this did not happen. A number of then-mainstream hypotheses about the nature of dark matter had to be rejected. Diverse observations indicate that dark matter exists, but apparently something other than the particles in the Standard Model constitutes it. Physicists thus have to consider further options that are more complex. The Standard Model needs to be extended. Among the candidates for inclusion are hypothetical particles that may have masses in the range from 10?²? to 10?¹? times the mass of the electron. That is, the heaviest speculated particle has a mass 40 orders of magnitude greater than that of the lightest.

One theoretical model treats dark matter as being made up of ultralight particles. This offers an explanation for numerous astronomical observations. However, such particles would be so light that they would interact very weakly with other matter and light, making them exceedingly hard to study. It is almost impossible to spot a particle of this kind in a lab, so researchers turn to astronomical observations.

“We are talking about dark matter particles that are 28 orders of magnitude lighter than the electron. This notion is critically important for the model that we decided to test. The gravitational interaction is what betrays the presence of dark matter. If we explain all the observed dark matter mass in terms of ultralight particles, that would mean there is a tremendous number of them. But with particles as light as these, the question arises: How do we protect them from acquiring effective mass due to quantum corrections? Calculations show that one possible answer would be that these particles interact weakly with photons — that is, with electromagnetic radiation. This offers a much easier way to study them: by observing electromagnetic radiation in space,” said Sergey Troitsky, a co-author of the paper and chief researcher at the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences.


Alex Jones reveals the truth behind China’s exploration of the dark side of the moon, an adventure that, in all likelihood, has already been carried out by covert, American run space programs.

When the number of particles is very high, instead of individual particles, you can treat them as a field of certain density permeating the universe. This field coherently oscillates over domains that are on the order of 100 parsecs in size, or about 325 light years. What determines the oscillation period is the mass of the particles. If the model considered by the authors is correct, this period should be about one year. When polarized radiation passes through such a field, the plane of radiation polarization oscillates with the same period. If periodic changes like this do in fact occur, astronomical observations can reveal them. And the length of the period — one terrestrial year — is very convenient, because many astronomical objects are observed over several years, which is enough for the changes in polarization to manifest themselves.

The authors of the paper decided to use the data from Earth-based radio telescopes, because they return to the same astronomical objects many times during a cycle of observations. Such telescopes can observe remote active galactic nuclei — regions of superheated plasma close to the centers of galaxies. These regions emit highly polarized radiation. By observing them, one can track the change in polarization angle over several years.

“At first it seemed that the signals of individual astronomical objects were exhibiting sinusoidal oscillations. But the problem was that the sine period has to be determined by the dark matter particle mass, which means it must be the same for every object. There were 30 objects in our sample. And it may be that some of them oscillated due to their own internal physics, but anyway, the periods were never the same,” Troitsky goes on. “This means that the interaction of our ultralight particles with radiation may well be constrained. We are not saying such particles do not exist, but we have demonstrated that they don’t interact with photons, putting a constraint on the available models describing the composition of dark matter.”

“Just imagine how exciting that was! You spend years studying quasars, when one day theoretical physicists turn up, and the results of our high-precision and high angular resolution polarization measurements are suddenly useful for understanding the nature of dark matter,” enthusiastically adds Yuri Kovalev, a co-author of the study and laboratory director at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

(Photo by NASA)

In the future, the team plans to search for manifestations of hypothesized heavier dark matter particles proposed by other theoretical models. This will require working in different spectral ranges and using other observation techniques. According to Troitsky, the constraints on alternative models are more stringent.

“Right now, the whole world is engaged in the search for dark matter particles. This is one of the great mysteries of particle physics. As of today, no model is accepted as favored, better-developed, or more plausible with regard to the available experimental data. We have to test them all. Inconveniently, dark matter is “dark” in the sense that it hardly interacts with anything, particularly with light. Apparently, in some scenarios it could have a slight effect on light waves passing through. But other scenarios predict no interactions at all between our world and dark matter, other than those mediated by gravity. This would make its particles very hard to find,” concludes Troitsky.


Alex Jones coins a new word while breaking down how elites manipulate online comments to control content creators.

Source: InfoWars

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Pope: Women have ‘legitimate claims’ for justice, equality

Pope Francis says women have "legitimate claims" to seek more justice and equality in the Catholic Church, but has stopped short of endorsing more sweeping calls from his own bishops to give women decision-making roles.

Francis on Tuesday issued a document inspired by an October 2018 meeting of bishops on better ministering to today's young Catholics. The meeting was marked by demands for greater women's rights, and the final document called the need for women to claim decision-making positions in the church "a duty of justice."

In the lengthy document "Christ is Alive," Francis endorses no such conclusion. He writes that the church must be attentive to women's "legitimate claims" for equality and must better train men and women with leadership potential.

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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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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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

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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

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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

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