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Sri Lanka arrests 40 suspects after bombings, toll up to 310

As a state of emergency took effect Tuesday giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.

Sri Lanka's president gave the military a wider berth to detain and arrest suspects — powers that were used during the 26-year civil war but withdrawn when it ended in 2009.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the death toll from Sunday's attacks rose to 310.

President Maithripala Sirisena has declared a day of mourning for Tuesday, a day after officials disclosed that warnings had been received weeks ago of the possibility of an attack by the radical Muslim group blamed for the bloodshed.

Source: Fox News World

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UK must take part in EU elections if Brexit delayed: Austrian negotiator

FILE PHOTO: Flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament in London
FILE PHOTO: Flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament, ahead of a Brexit vote, in London, Britain March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Jacobs/File Photo

March 16, 2019

By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

ZURICH (Reuters) – Britain must take part in European parliamentary elections if its departure from the European Union is pushed back beyond July 1, Austria’s delegate to Brexit negotiations said in an interview published on Saturday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to head to Brussels next week to request a short delay to the exit process after the UK parliament on Thursday voted in favor of extending negotiations beyond the original March 29 deadline.

“We have to wait and see what the government in London actually proposes. If there is an extension beyond July 1, then in any event, the United Kingdom must vote in May for the European elections,” Austrian diplomat Gregor Schusterschitz said in an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard.

“The EU has never been the side in the negotiations that has rejected something for reasons of principle. This also applies to the question of the extension: it shouldn’t fail because of us.”

Several EU leaders have already said Britain must either have left before a new European Parliament is elected in May to take office in July or must hold its own EU election in order to avoid any legal challenge to the legitimacy of the legislature.

In the interview, Schusterschitz also said the EU might have been too soft on Britain and allowed it too long to conduct a largely domestic discussion, which involved less debate with the EU than it did internal political back-and-forth.

“Maybe we could have been more brutal sometimes,” he said. “We didn’t do that, and so we probably allowed British politics too long to fool around – and not face the really difficult questions, which are being discussed now, much earlier.”

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Mike Pompeo blames media sponsors for foundation’s decision to rescind human rights award

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview Friday with Fox News, spoke out against a last-minute decision from a leading human rights group to rescind a prestigious award after apparent complaints from media critics.

Pompeo was set to receive the 2019 Foley American Hostage Freedom Award at a gala hosted by the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation on Tuesday night.

MARC THIESSEN: AWARD FOR MIKE POMPEO MYSTERIOUSLY RESCINDED, PROVES OUR POLITICS JUST HIT A NEW LOW

The foundation, which “advocates for the safe return of all Americans unjustly detained abroad and to protect freelance journalists,” was going to bestow the honor on Pompeo for his work in helping to free Americans imprisoned around the world.

Speaking to “Fox & Friends” Friday, Pompeo addressed the controversy, suggesting the award was pulled due to pressure from media outlets.

“The return of hostages isn't partisan. It's not political. This is an American activity,” he said.

“We worked with Democrat members of Congress on this. This is not partisan.

“And yet, it sounds like some in the media, who were underwriting this event – sponsors for the event said ‘if Pompeo is there, we won't be.’”

However, the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation told Fox News the decision was not made due to media pressure, and instead because of the Trump administration's response to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

"While it is accurate that our foundation intended to present our hostage freedom award to Secretary Pompeo... we ultimately decided we could not present the award as planned due to the dramatic change in circumstances when the Administration did not press for genuine accountability from the Saudi government for the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi," a statement read.

"In addition to advocating for the safe return of American hostages abroad, the protection of free speech and promotion of journalists’ safety is a key pillar of our foundation and this award would have been in conflict with that key principle. We thank Secretary Pompeo for his extraordinary efforts to bring Americans home and are grateful for all that he and this administration have accomplished to prioritize the return of our citizens.

"In particular, we are thankful for the time he dedicated to meeting with families of American hostages on Tuesday. We look forward to working closely with Secretary Pompeo and this administration on these efforts to bring Americans safely home."

Earlier this week, Pompeo reportedly sent a letter to Diane Foley -- the president of the foundation and mother of James Foley, the American journalist killed by ISIS -- after learning of the decision.

ISIS FIGHTERS, ASSOCIATES MUST BE HELD 'ACCOUNTABLE' FOR DECISIONS, MOTHER OF SLAIN JOURNALIST JAMES FOLEY SAYS

“I was truly honored to have been selected to receive the 2019 Foley American Hostage Freedom Award. Jim’s life and his legacy inspire me in my work,” the secretary wrote, as first reported by the Washington Examiner and confirmed by Fox News.

“I understand that the Foundation decided to rescind the Freedom Award and my invitation to attend the 2019 James W. Foley Freedom Awards due to pressure from its media partners and your fear, stated in your letter, that some guests at the dinner would not show my office proper respect if I attended.

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“How sad is it that base politics and hatred have been allowed to creep into even this sphere of our national activity? The safe recovery of Americans held hostage overseas should be beyond politics and must enjoy the support of all Americans. I regret that pressure of such a cynical and abominable nature was brought to bear on you and John.”

Fox News' Rich Edson contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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Take Five: Shall we try again? World markets themes for the week ahead

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

March 15, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/ THIRD TIME LUCKY? MAY-BE

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. And again and again. The UK Parliament has voted to extend the March 29 exit date but Prime Minister Theresa May is still hoping to railroad lawmakers into approving the EU divorce deal she’s negotiated. The unpopular agreement has already been heavily rejected twice but prospects of a long delay or even another referendum that may reverse Brexit could well swing eurosceptic Tories over to her side. So a third “meaningful” vote, dubbed MV3, is planned for the coming week. If that fails, well, MV4 is already being touted.

There is, of course, no guarantee an exasperated EU will play ball — all 27 remaining members have to agree the extension. And there are doubts a three-month delay will break the deadlock. If MV3 fails, the EU’s March 21 summit will be key, first to see if it agrees an extension and second, whether it presses Britain for a delay of one year or more.

With the parliamentary votes, meaningful or otherwise, grabbing the limelight, there’s probably not much the Bank of England can add at its meeting on March 21. It’s already said no-deal Brexit is a bad idea; any clarity on its policy intentions is likely only after the manner and timing of Brexit becomes evident.

(GRAPHIC: No-deal” Brexit probabilities – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ua88yG)

2/ FIGURE IT OUT BOEING

President Trump has told Boeing to “figure it out fast”. That’s probably good advice for the company, a long-standing stock market darling that’s lost almost $28 billion, or 13 percent of its value, since the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines’ crash.

The disaster has prompted country after country into grounding Boeing’s fleet of 737 MAX aircraft – the model involved in the Ethiopian crash and another recent one in Indonesia. Possible links between the accidents have rocked the aviation industry, scared passengers worldwide, and left the company scrambling to prove the safety of its best-selling model that was intended to be the standard for decades. Before the crash, Boeing was the seventh most valued stock on the Dow Jones, but it’s fallen to 14th. Its shares hit record highs just a week before the crash, having risen a stunning 52 percent since the end of December. They are still up almost 20 percent year-to-date.

So what’s next? Moody’s reckons Boeing will overcome the near-term challenges. The question for investors is whether the share price slide takes into account the damage to the bottom line and potential legal exposure. Analysts will be assessing the possible fallout; chances are, some earnings downgrades will start coming through.

– Boeing faces crisis with worldwide grounding of 737 MAX jetliners- Boeing 737 MAX 8 groundings spread around the world- Boeing shares cheaper, but are they a buy?

(GRAPHIC: Boeing valuation – https://tmsnrt.rs/2O6oKWa)

3/ PAUSE PERFECT

U.S. unemployment is plumbing its lowest level in half a century, wages are ticking up but the Federal Reserve, meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, is not poised to snatch away the proverbial punch bowl.

On Wall Street at least, the Fed’s dovish 2019 conversion is paying off: The S&P 500 is up about 6 percent since the Fed’s Jan 30 meeting signalled it was putting in abeyance a tightening policy that began in 2015.

Labor shortages notwithstanding, the slowing economy is keeping prices in check, giving the central bank leeway to stand pat on interest rates after hiking four times in 2018. Compared to the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target, producer inflation was up 1.9 percent in the year to February, while consumer inflation rose just 1.5 percent to its smallest annual gain in 2-1/2 year.

The next reading of the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, is due on March 29. But that gauge rose 1.9 percent year-year in December.

Already, money markets are building in some easing in 2020. By then, the Fed should have completed a review of how it manages its policy mandate of keeping prices stable and employment high.

    

(GRAPHIC: U.S. price and wage growth – https://tmsnrt.rs/2O4K4ex)

4/ SURPRISES GOOD AND BAD

It’s been a rough old time for Europe’s economy, with momentum steadily waning last year even as the United States powered ahead. Growth warnings issued by the OECD and the European Central Bank have rattled investors further this year, as they try to assess what kind of toll the euro zone has suffered from trade wars, Brexit and Italian debt concerns.

But finally! There are some signs the nasty surprises are fading. Citi’s well-known economic surprise index – a gauge showing how much economists have been over- or underestimating economic performance compared to what indicators actually deliver – now shows a cross-over between the euro zone and the United States.

That means negative surprises from economic indicators in the world’s top economy have worsened dramatically in recent weeks. Euro zone data misses, meanwhile have been less bad than previously.

Whether this run continues or not will become evident in coming days. First up on Tuesday, comes Germany’s ZEW economic index. Purchasing manager indexes, a crucial forward-looking gauge, will be released on Friday from the United States, Euro zone and Japan.

(GRAPHIC: Macro surprises U.S. versus Euro zone – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Fb2JT4)

5/ SEARCHING FOR MEANING

To many economists, the Bank of Japan’s forecasts have long seemed to be on the optimistic side. The key difference in views was the global outlook. Well, the world economy is slowing down and even if Japanese companies are awash with cash and no major central bank runs a looser policy than the BOJ, the No.3 economy is still feeling the pinch.

What’s worse, inflation encounters less resistance on the downside than it does on the upside. So the BOJ is well and truly in a corner. There was little it could do at its March meeting save keeping policy unchanged and tempering its economic outlook predictions. But might the BOJ be forced to resort to further policy easing? That question is being asked of the ECB too, while central banks elsewhere — from Australia to the United States — may also have to cut rates.

Upcoming data on Japan’s trade and price growth will help investors determine what happens next. Policymakers will also be hoping for a resolution soon to the U.S.-China trade dispute. The data could intensify the debate on whether the BOJ’s dogged adherence to a 2 percent inflation target means anything – finance minister Taro Aso predicted “things could go wrong” if the BOJ hung on to that goal.

(GRAPHIC: Japan inflation – https://tmsnrt.rs/2FbxTJT)

(Reporting by Sujata Rao, Karin Strohecker and Josephine Mason in London; Alden Bentley in New York and Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Bashir ouster rekindles interest in long-defaulted Sudan loans

FILE PHOTO: Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum
FILE PHOTO: Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

April 12, 2019

By Karin Strohecker

LONDON (Reuters) – In the hazy world of distressed debt trading, the fall of Sudan’s autocratic ruler of 30 years, Omar al-Bashir, has sparked fresh interest among traders and holders of the country’s long-defaulted debt.

Following weeks of demonstrations kindled by soaring food costs, high unemployment and increasing repression, 75-year-old Bashir was overthrown on Thursday by the military, three decades after himself seizing power in a coup.

The newly ruling military council on Friday promised a transition to an elected civilian government.

Frozen for the best part of four decades, Sudan’s debt is part of a highly opaque market of legacy debts of countries isolated from the rest of the international community, such as pre-Castro Cuban debt or loans issued by North Korea.

Apart from defaulting on payments from the early 1980s onwards, Sudan was also subject to U.S. sanctions linked to the conflict in Darfur for nearly two decades until 2017.

“This is a big moment for the country. Now we need to see what happens next, what sort of a government or leader they will get, and how the situation will develop,” said one holder of the defaulted loans, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“There’s a potential for real change, but change isn’t always for the better and it could take a very long time for things to improve.”

Much of Sudan’s distressed debt trading centers around a state-guaranteed loan issued in 1981 as part of a debt restructuring agreement with a principal of 1.64 billion Swiss franc ($1.64 billion). Shortly after, the Sudanese government defaulted again on its obligations on the loan.

By now analysts estimate the amount due including nearly four decades of unpaid interest amounts to around 8 billion Swiss francs ($7.99 billion).

Loans are rarely changing hands, though distressed debt traders say they last priced between 7-9 cents in the dollar.

ISOLATED FROM MARKETS

Sudan has been cut off from international markets for years.

The U.S. government lifted most of its sanctions on Sudan in February 2017, but kept the country on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. This keeps the economy in a stranglehold, making it next to impossible for businesses to operate in dollar transactions and cutting off any access to international capital markets and many other funding sources for the government.

Apart from Somalia, Sudan is now the only country in the world with arrears to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), accounting for more than 80 percent of money overdue to the multilateral lender.

The impoverished northeastern African country is buckling under its debt with defaulted loans owed to the private sector making up just a small part of the burden.

“Public external debt is around $51 billion,” said Stuart Culverhouse, head of sovereign & fixed income research at Exotix, citing 2016 IMF data. “(This) is 88 percent of GDP. The ratio is likely to be higher now because of a weaker currency.”

The IMF stated in its December 2017 report that Sudan was eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) plan – an IMF and World Bank initiative launched in 1996 to help poor countries struggling with external debt obtain debt relief.

Once a country has overhauled its debt burden with bilateral and multilateral lenders, it must come to an agreement with private sector lenders before being able to access international capital markets again.

Taking a punt on major regime changes, distressed debt investors in general are happy to slog it out, though the latest market developments have seen some rethink their position.

CAUTION

One debt trader reported a seller had withdrawn a Sudan position, wanting to see what happened first. Yet others were gauging if a possible spike in price could be an opportunity to sell.

Excitement over investment in Cuba for instance has gone tepid after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed his predecessor Barack Obama’s rapprochement with Havana. North Korean debt moved further into the twilight zone after Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Pyongyang in 2017.

“We’ve had a few setbacks lately, some may well think a spike in prices now could be a good time to get out,” said the holder of defaulted Sudan debt.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Theresa May could offer resignation in last ditch attempt to get third Brexit vote passed

Theresa May could quit as soon as Wednesday as the Brexit chaos deepens - in a last-ditch bid to win a third and final vote on her deal.

The Prime Minister has summoned all Tory MPs to a closed-doors Commons meeting Wednesday night.

Westminster insiders believe she could use the "1922 Committee" meeting to lay out a timetable for her resignation in a last-ditch bid to get her Brexit deal over the line.

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Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement on Brexit to lawmakers in the House of Commons, London, Monday March 25, 2019. May is under intense pressure Monday to win support for her Brexit deal to split from Europe.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement on Brexit to lawmakers in the House of Commons, London, Monday March 25, 2019. May is under intense pressure Monday to win support for her Brexit deal to split from Europe. (House of Commons via AP)

Furious Brexiteers may come round to the withdrawal agreement if Mrs May guarantees she won't be in place during talks over a future trade deal.

Today MP Tim Loughton said: "If she gets her deal through, we need somebody else controlling the process."

BREXIT OR NO BREXIT, THE US-BRITISH ALLIANCE REMAINS VITAL

In a boost for Mrs May, top Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg finally admitted he will be forced to support her deal when it returns to the Commons.

He previously said he'd only back the withdrawal agreement if the DUP, who are essential for the Prime Minister's Commons majority, also supported it.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS PROTEST IN LONDON DEMANDING SECOND BREXIT VOTE

Mrs May's desperate gambit comes after Remainer MPs grabbed control of the Government and won the right to decide what they want to happen next.

Ministers are now openly discussing the possibility of dissolving Parliament and heading for an early election.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

This article originally appeared in The Sun. For more from The Sun, click here.

Source: Fox News World

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Caseworkers missed ‘red flags’ before teen’s brutal death

A report says child welfare agencies in Pennsylvania missed a series of "red flags" in the case of a teenager who endured years of abuse before her 2016 rape and murder.

Investigators probed 14-year-old Grace Packer's interactions with the child welfare system and identified numerous missed opportunities to protect her. The state Department of Human Services released the heavily redacted report on Monday.

Grace's adoptive mother, Sara Packer, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced Friday to life without parole for plotting Grace's death. Sara Packer's boyfriend, Jacob Sullivan, who raped and strangled Grace, was sentenced to death last week.

The teenager suffered mental, sexual and physical abuse in the years leading up to her murder, but child welfare officials allowed her to remain in Sara Packer's home.

Source: Fox News National

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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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