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In possible first, Cuba allows march by animal activists

On Sunday morning, a group of animal-lovers will march a mile down one of Havana's main thoroughfares waving placards calling for an end to animal cruelty in Cuba.

Short, seemingly simple, the march will write a small but significant line in the history of modern Cuba. The socialist government is explicitly permitting a public march unassociated with any part of the all-encompassing Communist state, a move that participants and historians call highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented since the first years of the revolution.

Still, there is no indication Cuba is moving toward unfettered freedom of assembly: The state still clamps down on unapproved political speech with swift and heavy police mobilizations, waves of arrests and temporary detentions.

Source: Fox News World

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General Electric in $49 million settlement over Petters fraud

FILE PHOTO: The logo of US conglomerate General Electric is pictured at the company's site of its energy branch in Belfort
FILE PHOTO: The logo of U.S. conglomerate General Electric is pictured at the company's site of its energy branch in Belfort, France, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler/File Photo

March 26, 2019

(Reuters) – General Electric Co has reached a $49 million settlement to end a long-running lawsuit over its relationship with Thomas Petters, the Minnesota businessman serving a 50-year prison term for running a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

The settlement between GE and a trustee for two bankrupt Florida investment funds known as Palm Beach Finance was disclosed in a Tuesday filing with the federal bankruptcy court in West Palm Beach, Florida.

GE denied liability in agreeing to settle.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: OANN

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Chicago police union president ‘looking for justice’ after Jussie Smollett charges dropped

As Chicago prepares for dueling rallies over the fallout from Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx's office to drop charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, the head of the city's police union is demanding justice in the case.

Kevin Graham, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, told "America's Newsroom" that authorities believed their case against Smollett was "solid" and thought they would have gotten a conviction.

"This case should have stood trial," Graham said.

CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX OPEN TO OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION INTO JUSSIE SMOLLETT CASE

Foxx has faced criticism since prosecutors dismissed all 16 felony counts against Smollett, who is black and gay. The "Empire" actor was accused of faking a racist, anti-gay attack on himself in January. Authorities said that in return for the charges being dropped, Smollett agreed to forfeit the $10,000 he put up to get out of jail and completed community service.

Graham said his union is planning a protest outside Foxx's office Monday, not over the dismissal of the Smollett charges, but from what he called a history of the office: "not prosecuting cases or not prosecuting them fully, having low bonds on people."

"We are turning people back out onto the streets, and that's pretty hard when you're using the court system as a penalty box like a hockey game," he told "America's Newsroom."

As members from the union protest outside of Foxx's office, a counter-demonstration in support of the embattled prosecutor is expected to be held by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other clergies. Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition said the civil rights leader will join fellow clergy, elected officials, attorneys and community activists for the rally supporting Foxx.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaking at a news conference in Chicago.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaking at a news conference in Chicago. (AP)

Jackson said in a statement that the criticism of Foxx is "unreasonable, unjustified and politically motivated."

Graham, who called the counter-protest "bewildering" because "we're all looking for justice," said that outrage and dueling protests could have been avoided if Foxx's office had simply gone through with prosecuting the case.

"I think many of these people who are having this counter protest, that's what they've been looking for in Chicago -- justice," he said. "And they should be standing behind the police and the F.O.P."

The police union head said the Illinois law system is "very complicated," and that the decision to charge Smollett with a Class 4 felony for filing a false police report that cost the city $130,000 shows a need for "improvements in the law." He also remained hopeful that federal officials look at the case, with particular regard to the envelope that was set with the accusation that Smollett was going to be harmed.

CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUP AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED

"We feel that is a good case for the FBI to look at, that the U.S. attorney could prosecute if they find the facts and circumstances to be what the Chicago PD found," he told "America's Newsroom."

After an intense public backlash, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Friday night that she is open to an outside investigation into her office’s dramatic decision to dismiss all charges against Smollett.

In an op-ed for The Chicago Tribune, Foxx admitted that a third-party review into the high-profile case would help maintain transparency.

“I am not perfect, nor is any other prosecutor out there, but ensuring that I and my office have our community’s trust is paramount,” Foxx, who ran on a platform of transparency, wrote.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

While Graham said he was going to wait on a board of directors meeting Tuesday before saying if he believes Foxx should resign, the police union head said he's gotten calls and emails from "around the country" from those who felt justice was not done. He also said that additional law enforcement agencies are meeting to discuss action's by Foxx's office and failure to "prosecute some of the crimes that are going on in Cook County."

"I do think she's going to have a problem if this isn't addressed," he told "America's Newsroom."

Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty in Chicago and  The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Rep. Joe Kennedy: DeVos Planned Special Olympics Cuts 'Cruel'

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' proposed budget that cuts grant funding to the Special Olympics is "cruel, it's misguided, and it's outrageous," Rep. Joe Kennedy, whose great aunt Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the organization, said Thursday.

"Republicans just passed a tax cut that reduced funding into our coffers and then to say you don't have the money for Special Olympics or autism funding. It's cruel, it's misguided and it's outrageous," the Massachusetts Democrat told CNN's "New Day."

He also said he's confident the cuts will never be approved because of the program's bipartisan, community, international and national support and impact.

"This is an exact example of a program that, between a nonprofit community support and government, is able to lift up those that historically have been left in the shadows throughout our country's history," Kennedy said."Why would the federal government not want to raise those folks up and celebrate them?"

Devos, however, said on Wednesday that the Special Olympics does not need any federal backing, because it can raise private contributions.  

"The federal government cannot fund every worthy program, particularly ones that enjoy robust support from private donations," she said while insisting she supports the Special Olympics.

According to a spokesperson, DeVos donated part of her salary to the Special Olympics last year, and Kennedy said he does appreciate that and hope she continues to support the program.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Seoul lawmaker: Top Kim adviser in North removed from post

A South Korean lawmaker says that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's most trusted policy adviser apparently has been removed from one of his posts.

The head of parliament's intelligence committee, Lee Hye-hoon, on Wednesday cited South Korea's main spy agency as saying that Kim Yong Chol lost his Workers' Party post in charge of relations with South Korea.

She said she received a private briefing from the National Intelligence Service.

If confirmed, the development would add to speculation that Kim is being sidelined from nuclear diplomacy after February's North Korean-U.S. summit ended abruptly.

He has been North Korea's top nuclear negotiator and counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Kim Jong Un entered nuclear talks with the U.S. early last year.

Source: Fox News World

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Ex-cop says thought gun was pointed at him when he shot teen

A white former police officer said Thursday he thought a weapon was pointed at him when he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager outside Pittsburgh last summer.

Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld took the stand at his homicide trial and insisted he was in fear for his life when he gunned down 17-year-old Antwon Rose II.

Rosfeld, 30, got choked up and dabbed away tears as he recounted finding the mortally wounded Rose on the ground.

"I was upset, shocked," Rosfeld said. "He was moaning, trying to breathe."

The former officer testified after the prosecution rested its case earlier Thursday. Prosecutors said Rosfeld gave inconsistent statements about the shooting, including whether he thought Rose had a gun.

A prosecution witness has said that after the shooting, he heard Rosfeld say repeatedly, "I don't know why I shot him. I don't know why I fired." But another prosecution witness said he heard the officer ask, "Why did he do that? Why did he take that out of his pocket?"

Rosfeld fired three bullets into Rose after pulling over an unlicensed taxi he suspected — correctly, as it turned out — to have been involved in a drive-by shooting. Rose, a passenger in the car, was shot in the back as he fled.

Rosfeld testified the car that Rose was riding in had its rear windshield shot out. He chirped his siren and turned on his police lights, and the driver complied and pulled over. Rosfeld said he got out of his car with his gun drawn and ordered the driver to the ground.

That's when he said Rose and another occupant, Zaijuan Hester, "jumped out" of the car.

Demonstrating for the jury what threatening gesture he believed he saw, Rosfeld stood up, raised his right arm to shoulder length and fully extended it as if pointing a weapon.

"It happened very quickly," Rosfeld said. "My intent was to end the threat that was made against me. I just wanted to end the threat to me. I followed the threat and fired. I just saw that person moving, so I assumed the threat was still there."

Asked by his attorney, Patrick Thomassey, why he fired his gun and did not simply let the suspects get away, Rosfeld said: "Because I thought one of them was pointing a weapon at me. They were dangerous felon suspects. They had just fired a gun at someone."

Rose had been riding in the front seat of the cab when Hester, in the backseat, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street, hitting one in the abdomen.

Hester, 18, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault and firearms violations. Hester told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting.

Earlier Thursday, Judge Alexander Bicket rejected a defense motion to acquit Rosfeld on the murder counts he faces.

Prosecutors charged Rosfeld with an open count of homicide, meaning the jury can convict Rosfeld of murder or manslaughter. The defense argued a murder charge wasn't appropriate in the case.

"What we have is a police officer doing his duty. There's not a hardness of heart required for first- or third-degree murder," Thomassey argued in court. "We have a burst of three shots in one second on a fleeing felon and we're going to charge him with murder? It's not fair."

Prosecutor Daniel Fitzsimmons said the fact that Rosfeld shot a fleeing Rose in the back was evidence of malice, and the judge ruled the murder counts would stand.

Rosfeld's decision to testify wasn't unusual. At least three other white officers charged in the on-duty fatal shootings of black people have taken the witness stand in recent years.

In October, a Chicago jury convicted former officer Jason Van Dyke of murder in the shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald. After the trial, jurors said Van Dyke's testimony hurt his defense. Van Dyke got fewer than seven years in prison.

An officer in Balch Spring, Texas, was convicted of murder last August and sentenced to 15 years after a jury didn't buy his explanation that he was trying to protect his partner when he fired into a car full of black teenagers, striking a 15-year-old.

And in 2017, a former South Carolina patrolman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing an unarmed motorist. The officer pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges following a state trial at which he testified and the jury deadlocked.

___

Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News National

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China says French ship entered its waters illegally

China says it has complained to France after one of its warships entered Chinese territorial waters while passing through the Taiwan Strait this month.

The April 7 incident marks a rare occasion of military friction between the two countries, which have held joint search and rescue exercises before.

Ren said the navy dispatched ships to identify, warn and escort the French ship and would remain "highly alert to firmly safeguard China's sovereignty and security."

The 160-kilometer (100-mile)-wide Taiwan Strait divides mainland China from the island Beijing claims as its territory. It is considered an international waterway heavily trafficked by ships from all nations, many of them bound for Chinese ports.

China is highly sensitive to operations by foreign warships near areas it claims, such as the South China Sea.

Source: Fox News World

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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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