President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will simultaneously be out of the country next week, creating a "rare and unusual" situation, according to a new report.
Axios reported that with Trump traveling to Vietnam for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Pence in Colombia on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the top-ranked U.S. official who's actually in the U.S. that day.
"It's rare and unusual, and usually [the White House will] try to avoid it," Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian and author, told Axios.
A similar situation occurred on two days last year — Nov. 11 and Dec. 1 — when Trump and Pence were traveling to and from the U.S.
It's worth pointing out that Pelosi's duties as the leader of the House chamber will not change as a result of the top two U.S. officials being out of the country.
Axios noted that former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden found themselves in the same situation in March 2013 for 20 minutes. In that case, Obama was traveling to Israel and Biden was on his way back from Italy.
Trump and Kim will meet Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam, a follow-up to their meeting last June on the issue of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. The White House announced Thursday that Pence is heading to Bogota, Colombia on Monday to convey America's support for Venezuela's interim President Juan Guaido.
"The United States is proud to join the Lima Group and other global partners to marshal our resources, provide much needed humanitarian relief, and stand together with the people of Venezuela until democracy and freedom are fully restored," Pence's press secretary Alyssa Farah said.
The former campaign manager for Obama’s 2012 campaign warned Democrats that socialist candidate Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) can’t beat President Trump in the 2020 election, especially on the economic issues.
In a radio interview on ABC’s Powerhouse Politics, Jim Messina outright dismissed Sanders as a serious contender for Trump.
“Can Bernie Sanders beat [President] Donald Trump?” host Jonathan Karl asked.
“No,” Messina replied.
(Start at 6:45)
“I think if you look at swing voters in this country they are incredibly focused on the economy,” Messina said. “The winner of the economic argument in the last five Presidential elections with swing voters has won the presidency.”
“I think today you look at it and say that Bernie Sanders is unlikely going to be able to stand up to the constant barrage that is Donald Trump on economic issues,” he added.
(Jim Messina. Photo: Douglas Graham/Roll Call/Getty Images)
However, Messina believes Sanders could still clinch the nomination in the Democratic primaries due to the far-left’s growing influence within the caucus.
“If nothing else, he will definitely be one of the final two or three candidates who has a shot at the nomination,” Messina said.
In a show of delight, Trump said Tuesday he believes “Crazy” Bernie will be one of the Democrat finalists.
“I believe it will be Crazy Bernie Sanders vs. Sleepy Joe Biden as the two finalists to run against maybe the best Economy in the history of our Country (and MANY other great things)! I look forward to facing whoever it may be. May God Rest Their Soul!” he tweeted.
I believe it will be Crazy Bernie Sanders vs. Sleepy Joe Biden as the two finalists to run against maybe the best Economy in the history of our Country (and MANY other great things)! I look forward to facing whoever it may be. May God Rest Their Soul!
Bernie Sanders appears to be ok with the possible physical attacks on Kaitlin Bennett due to his rhetoric and characterization of Kaitlin and Infowars. Alex exposes this false narrative smear from the left.
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Banque Privee Edmond de Rothschild is seen on the bank building before a news conference for the group's 2010 results, in Geneva March 31, 2011. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
March 13, 2019
ZURICH (Reuters) – The Benjamin de Rothschild family plans to take Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) S.A. private as a way to consolidate Edmond de Rothschild banking activity and make the Swiss group its operative holding company, the bank said on Wednesday.
The offer price for each bearer share is 17,945 Swiss francs in cash, or 15,500 francs after deducting its proposed dividend, it said. The stock closed on Tuesday at 16,400. Founded in 1953, the private banking and asset management group has 170 billion Swiss francs ($168.72 billion) in assets under management.
Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls are quickly warming to the idea of allowing their own campaign workers to unionize -- a move that shows the rising influence of labor-aligned activists in the party, and one that could increase campaign costs in the long run.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., campaign team announced Friday that some of their employees have unionized, touting that this makes them “the first major party presidential campaign in history to have a unionized workforce.”
Most of Bernie 2020’s “bargaining unit employees” recently selected the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 to be their “exclusive bargaining representative,” the campaign said. Campaign Manager Faiz Shakir hailed the lawmaker as being “the most pro-union candidate” among the 2020 field and say they’re “honored that his campaign will be the first to have a unionized workforce.”
It's an idea that has caught on among a wide Democratic field seemingly willing to entertain a range of proposals that would have been non-starters in past cycles. While candidates seize on calls to pack the Supreme Court, abolish the Electoral College and end the filibuster, the idea of letting their staffs unionize is tame by comparison.
While Sanders became the first candidate to actually go ahead with unionization, former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro announced in January that he will pay all campaign workers, including interns, $15 an hour or more. Officials said they would support a union as well if staff chose to organize, according to The San Antonio Current.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas -- who entered the race last week -- said that if campaign workers want to unionize, he would “support it all the way” as he made a laundry list of promises to potential campaign staff.
"Absolutely, if those who work on this campaign, and who comprise what I hope will be the largest grassroots effort this nation has ever seen, want to unionize, I support that all the way," he told Fox News when asked if he supports unionization.
"In the meantime, I'm going to make sure that we pay among, if not the highest wages, that everyone who works on the campaign is paid a living wage, excellent health care, child care so that everyone can work whatever their conditions are."
"But if these employees also want to unionize, I absolutely support that," he added.
It remains to be seen what the outcome of such decisions could be, but big campaigns could end up with costlier wage bills, especially if overtime (a common feature on the grueling campaign trail) is also compensated with time-and-a-half, as unions may demand.
The push toward unionization is a sign of the difficult path candidates must walk, as they make calls for increases in the minimum wage, universal health care and other issues -- while pitching other policies that concern labor organizations.
Take the Green New Deal -- a radical overhaul of America’s economy and energy use that almost all 2020 Democrats have backed, and that the AFL-CIO recently warned could cause “immediate harm” to millions of their members.
“We will not accept proposals that could cause immediate harm to millions of our members and their families. We will not stand by and allow threats to our members’ jobs and their families’ standard of living go unanswered,” the union's energy committee said in a letter. “We are ready to discuss these issues in a responsible way, for we all recognize that doing nothing is not an option.”
Campaigns that are not perceived as treating workers well can also see those issues distract from their core message. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has struggled to move past accusations that she mistreats her staff, with reports that she has thrown binders at staff, torpedoed job opportunities and forced them to clean a comb she used to eat a salad.
Sanders, meanwhile, has been hit by claims that sexual harassment allegations against a staffer on his 2016 campaign were not taken seriously by his campaign managers. He has since apologized and said that "our standards and safeguard were inadequate."
The unionization push is the latest big idea to be grasped by both lapels by candidates seeking to distinguish themselves from a broad field, and to promote their own progressive street cred.
In recent weeks, top 2020 Democrats have embraced a wealth of ideas that were once out on the fringes of the party -- including the Green New Deal, reparations, packing the Supreme Court with more judges and abolishing the Electoral College.
Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report.
Members of Libyan internationally recognised pro-government forces ride in military vehicles on the outskirts of Tripoli, Libya April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara
April 11, 2019
By Ahmed Elumami and Giselda Vagnoni
TRIPOLI/ROME (Reuters) – Fighting between eastern Libyan forces and Tripoli government troops killed 56 people and forced 6,000 to flee their homes in the capital in the last week, the United Nations said on Thursday, as France and Italy wrangled over how to respond to the renewed conflict.
After sweeping up from the south, the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar have been blocked in the southern suburbs of Tripoli about 11 km (7 miles) from the center.
Overnight, a Reuters reporter in downtown Tripoli heard gunfire and explosions as the LNA faced off with the forces of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s government around the former international airport and the Ain Zara district.
Haftar’s push for Tripoli is the latest in a cycle of violence and chaos in Libya since the 2011 overthrow of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
In Rome, Libya’s former colonial ruler Italy warned France, which has close ties to Haftar, to refrain from supporting any faction after diplomats said Paris blocked a European Union statement calling on him to halt his offensive.
“It would be very serious if France for economic or commercial reasons had blocked an EU initiative to bring peace to Libya and would support a party that is combatting,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini told Radio RTL 102.5.
“As minister of the interior I will not stand by and watch.”
France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya, has provided military assistance in past years to Haftar in his eastern stronghold, Libyan and French officials say. It was also a leading player in the war to unseat Gaddafi..
Italy supports the U.N.-backed government of Serraj.
ITALY SPARS WITH FRANCE
Salvini said France had recently withdrawn its ambassador from Rome “for much less” after leaders of his League party’s coalition partners, the 5-Star Star Movement, had met with French “yellow vest” protesters.
“Some think that the (2011 Nato-led military intervention) in Libya promoted by (former French President Nicolas) Sarkozy was triggered more by economic and commercial interests than by humanitarian concerns,” he said.
“I hope we are not seeing the same film all over again.”
An EU draft statement on Wednesday said Haftar’s attack on Tripoli put civilians at risk, disrupted the political process, and risked an escalation with serious consequences for Libya and the wider region. The statement was blocked by France.
French diplomatic sources said on Thursday Paris did not object to calls on Haftar to stop his advance, but had only requested amendments including mentions of migrants’ plight and the presence among anti-Haftar fighters of militants designated as terrorists by the United Nations.
The latest tally of casualties from the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) said 56 people – mainly fighters though also some civilians including two doctors and an ambulance driver – had been killed, and another 266 wounded in Tripoli.
The number of people forced out of their homes doubled in the last 48 hours to 6,000, U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said.
As well as the humanitarian consequences, renewed conflict in Libya threatens to disrupt oil supplies, increase migration across the Mediterranean to Europe, scupper the U.N. peace plan, and encourage Islamist militants to exploit the chaos. Libya is a main transit point for migrants who have poured into Europe in recent years, organized by illegal trafficking gangs.
The LNA forces moved out of their stronghold in eastern Libya to take the sparsely-populated but oil-rich south earlier this year, before heading a week ago toward Tripoli, where the internationally-recognized government of Serraj sits.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumani and Ulf Laessing in Tripoli, Tom Miles in Geneva, Giselda Vagnoni in Rome, John Irish in Paris; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
February 22, 2019
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A return to fashion of growth stocks in 2019 helped lead the overall market out of a year-end shakeout, but another multi-year run of growth performing better than value may not be in the cards.
The S&P 500 has rallied nearly 18 percent since its Dec. 24 low. During that time the Russell 1000 Growth index has fared even better with a gain of almost 20 percent while the Russell 1000 Value index has lagged with a gain of about 17 percent.
That marks a reversal from the fourth quarter, when value outperformed as stocks nearly tumbled into bear market territory, a trend some analysts feel will return as the market grapples with several major headwinds such as Brexit and trade negotiations.
Growth investors typically search for companies that have higher profit growth and margins, while value investors look for stocks that seem inexpensive.
Shortly after the S&P hit its most recent record on Sept. 20, thanks to the outperformance by growth, especially technology stocks, the spread between the Russell 1000 growth and value indexes had surpassed the levels hit during the end of the dot-com era. The fourth quarter selloff helped that narrow but it began to widen again shortly before the new year.
“The valuation imbalance we have seen between growth and value in the largecap space … when we have seen that inflection point in the past there has been a very powerful long-term rally where value has outperformed growth and we think that is coming up,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist, at Federated Investors, in New York.
(Graphic: Historic spread between value and growth stocks – https://tmsnrt.rs/2V7L04a
(Graphic: Russell 1000 growth vs value spread – https://tmsnrt.rs/2VgekWh
In a recent note to clients, Morgan Stanley equity strategist Michael Wilson said that the stocks that got hit first and hardest during last year’s “rolling bear market” would lead the recovery this year and rally the hardest. That prediction appears to be playing out as areas such as transportation, considered cyclical value, have been among the leaders to the upside this year.
Wilson anticipated the Federal Reserve will hold off raising interest rates further and that the global economy would bottom in the first half. He favors value over growth, with a focus on cyclical over defensive stocks.
Value stocks also remain cheap relative to growth shares, with their widest forward price-to-earnings ratio spread in over a decade. And while investor worries about a recession, which helped fuel the fourth-quarter sell-off, have abated, a number of headwinds remain that could make value more attractive as market uncertainty rises.
“There are still a lot of headaches coming, whether it is Brexit, China – what is the (trade) package going to look like? – the legal stuff in Washington,” said Steve DeSanctis, equity strategist at Jefferies in New York.
The Russell 1000 Value forward PE also sits right at its long-term average of about 13.8 while the Growth index is nearly 20, well above its historic average of 17.5.
(Graphic: Forward PE of Russell Growth and Value indexes – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ep2nrw)
One challenge, even though value is relatively cheap, is that financials have a heavy weighting in value indexes and a Fed pause will make it harder for those firms to grow profits.
Even though, as of the last reconstitution of Russell indexes in June, the financial services sector saw the most significant decrease in index weight in the largecap 1000 value index, it still was 29.1 percent. In the Russell 2000 Smallcap Value financials command a weighting of 40.5 percent.
“If value is going to work, it has to be financials,” said Mark Stoeckle, CEO at Adams Funds in Baltimore in an interview with Reuters.
“The one thing people were counting on in the first half of 2018 with the Fed was it was going to continue to raise rates, this (was) going to be good for banks – and not so much anymore.”
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Alden Bentley and Phil Berlowitz)
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
March 20, 2019
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – In a fresh blow to the embattled government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a legislator quit his ruling Liberal Party to sit as an independent on Wednesday after defending a former minister at the center of a political scandal.
Trudeau has been on the defensive since Feb. 7 over allegations top officials working for him leaned on former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to ensure construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoided a corruption trial.
The political crisis threatens the government’s chances of re-election in a vote scheduled for October this year. Polls have shown that Trudeau’s Liberals could lose the vote as the damage from the scandal spreads.
The prime minister told reporters that parliamentarian Celina Caesar-Chavannes, who has publicly backed Wilson-Raybould several times and earlier this month attacked Trudeau on Twitter, had left the Liberal parliamentary caucus.
“I want to thank her for her service to the Liberal Party and to her constituents and wish her the best,” Trudeau said in brief remarks.
Caesar-Chavannes, who represents a parliamentary constituency in the province of Ontario, had already announced she would not run again in this October’s federal election.
Although her departure has little immediate political effect – the Liberals still have a majority in the House of Commons – it underlines the staying power of an affair that has already cost Trudeau two high-profile female cabinet ministers, his closest aide and the head of the federal bureaucracy.
It is also awkward for a prime minister who came to power in late 2015 promising to boost the role of women in politics.
The office of Caesar-Chavannes was not immediately available for comment.
The legislator told the Globe and Mail newspaper earlier this month that Trudeau had shouted at her after she called him to say she would not contest her seat in this year’s election.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Nick Carey)
Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.
The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.
But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.
Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.
“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”
“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. … I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”
— Joe Biden
But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”
“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”
“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”
At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.
It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.
An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.
Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.
“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.
“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – 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.
LONDON – 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.”
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)
JOHANNESBURG – 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.
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