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Prosecutors seek life for German in sandwich poisoning case

Prosecutors are asking a court in Germany to sentence a 57-year-old man to life in prison for allegedly poisoning co-workers' sandwiches over several years.

German news agency dpa reported Wednesday that prosecutors are seeking the long sentence for attempted murder because the alleged victims nearly died. Two have serious kidney damage and a third is in a coma with irreparable brain damage.

The defendant, whose name hasn't been released, is accused of lacing colleagues' lunches with substances including lead acetate and mercury between 2015 and 2018.

He was arrested in May after surveillance video showed him putting a suspicious powder on a colleague's sandwich. Prosecutors believe he was motivated by wanting to watch their physical deterioration.

The Bielefeld regional court is expected to deliver its verdict on March 7.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump vows veto as Democrats try to block emergency order

Democrats controlling the House have teed up a vote next week to block President Donald Trump from using a national emergency declaration to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, accelerating a showdown in Congress that could divide Republicans and lead to Trump's first veto.

The Democrats introduced a resolution Friday to block Trump's declaration, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House would vote on the measure Tuesday. It is sure to pass, and the GOP-run Senate may adopt it as well. Trump quickly promised a veto.

"Will I veto it? 100 percent," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Any Trump veto would likely be sustained, but the upcoming battle will test Republican support for the president's move, which even some of his allies view as a stretch — and a slap at lawmakers' control over the power of the federal purse.

A staff aide introduced the measure during a short pro forma House session in which Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., presided over an almost-empty chamber.

"What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab," said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, the sponsor of the resolution, on a call with reporters. "There is no emergency at the border."

Trump's declaration of a national emergency gives him access to about $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to divert to border fencing. But the administration is more likely to tap funding from a federal asset forfeiture fund and Defense Department anti-drug efforts first.

Trump's edict is also being challenged in the federal courts, where a host of Democratic-led states such as California are among those that have sued to overturn Trump's order. The House may also join in.

Pelosi said the House measure would "reassert our system of checks and balances."

For Democrats, the vote is another chance to challenge Trump over funding for a border wall, the issue that was central to the 35-day government shutdown. It also puts some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot, as many have expressed misgivings about Trump's action despite their support for his border security agenda.

Should the House and the Senate initially approve the measure, Congress seems unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed later to override a Trump veto.

The measure to block Trump's edict will be closely watched in the Senate, where moderates such as Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have signaled they would back it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is only a reluctant supporter of Trump on the topic.

Trump's GOP allies promised they would uphold any veto denying Democrats the two-thirds votes required to overcome one.

"Democrats' angst over Congress' power of the purse is unwarranted, especially since the commander in chief's authority to redirect military funds for a national emergency is affirmed in a law passed by their own branch," said top House Judiciary Committee Republican Doug Collins of Georgia.

Pelosi wrote in a letter to her fellow lawmakers that the Republican president's "decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated."

"It is institutional. It is constitutional. It is not political," Pelosi said.

The battle is over an emergency declaration Trump issued to access billions of dollars beyond what Congress has authorized to start erecting border barriers. Building his proposed wall was the most visible trademark of Trump's presidential campaign.

Congress last week approved a vast spending bill providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles (89 kilometers) of border barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley while preventing a renewed government shutdown. That measure represented a rejection of Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles (322 kilometers).

Besides signing the bill, Trump also declared a national emergency and used other authorities that he says give him access to an additional $6.6 billion for wall building. That money would be transferred from a federal asset forfeiture fund, Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a military construction fund. Federal officials have yet to identify which projects would be affected.

Castro, the resolution sponsor, said that he has already garnered support from a majority of the House as co-sponsors and that he has at least one GOP sponsor, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan.

Castro's measure says Trump's emergency declaration "is hereby terminated." Castro chairs the 38-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Source: Fox News National

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Democrats need to talk less about Russia if they want to win in 2020: former DNC chair Ed Rendell

Democrats now need to shift their focus away from Russia and the 2016 presidential election and spend more time “doing the business of the people” if they want to have a chance of defeating Trump in 2020, former DNC chairman Ed Rendell says.

The comments from the ex-governor of Pennsylvania on "America’s Newsroom" Monday come as his party is grappling with how to proceed following the release of a summary of findings from Robert Mueller’s investigation, which, Attorney General Bill Barr says, could not prove that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 race.

“We have to get back to doing the business of the people,” Rendell said. “And that’s legislating on infrastructure, immigration, fixing the Affordable Care Act, things like that. That will be the key to whether we will be successful in 2020.”

Rendell added that it is important to note the summary released by Barr “did exonerate [Trump] on any evidence on collision, but it specifically said… it did not exonerate him on obstruction of justice.

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FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“That has to be looked at by people who are going to look at the report and decide what to do with it,” he added, further suggesting that “I wouldn’t if I were a Republican say that President Trump is out of the woods.

“This was just one of many, many different places that are investigating President Trump,” Rendell said.

But as for the Democratic Party, “we should continue to do investigations when appropriate but we should focus our attention now on legislating, on getting some things done,” Rendell believes.

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“The Democrats should not have made the statements that there was plenty of evidence of collusion,” he said. “There wasn’t – it was at the margins at best.

“Now we should put that behind us and focus on investigating other things that need investigation. But most important, our legislating,” he continued. “We need to pass out of the Democratic House an infrastructure bill to get people back to work to do something about the absolutely pathetic state of our infrastructure. Immigration, we should try to solve the immigration problem.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Pilots searched for checklist before Lion Air crash: Indonesian investigators

A worker assists his colleague as an turbine engine of Lion Air flight JT610 is lifted up at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta
FILE PHOTO: A worker assists his colleague as an turbine engine of Lion Air flight JT610 is lifted up at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 4, 2018. REUTERS/Beawiharta

March 21, 2019

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian investigators said on Thursday the cockpit voice recorder from a crashed Lion Air Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 jet showed pilots were searching for the right checklist in their handbooks and were experiencing airspeed and altitude issues.

The details revealed at a press conference corroborated a Reuters report on Wednesday that was based on three sources with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder’s contents.

Investigators said they have 90 percent of the data needed to release a final report on the October crash that killed 189 people, which is expected in August.

Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at Indonesia’s national transportation committee (KNKT) said the recording showed there was “panic” in the cockpit in the last 20 seconds of the flight.

“At the end of the flight it seemed the pilot felt he could no longer recover the flight, then the panic emerged,” he said while declining to say which of the two pilots panicked.

The investigation has taken on new urgency after a second 737 MAX 8 crash at Ethiopian Airlines last week killed 157 people and led to the global grounding of the model.

French air accident investigation agency BEA said on Tuesday the flight data recorder in the Ethiopian crash showed “clear similarities” to the Lion Air disaster.

Investigators examining the Indonesian crash are considering how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether the pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency, among other factors.

(Reporting by Cindy Silviana and Bernadette Christina Munthe; writing by Jamie Freed; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: OANN

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Police shootout with suspect in Oregon after car chase captured in dramatic video

A report of a stolen vehicle in Oregon on Saturday quickly morphed into a police chase that ended in a dramatic shootout -- caught on video -- and a person found dead inside a burnt-out car, officials said.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post the incident began around 6 p.m. when deputies received a report of a possible stolen vehicle at a Love’s Travel Stop along Interstate 5 in Roseburg. The vehicle had been reported stolen on March 7, and reportedly had multiple weapons, including a semi-automatic rifle, and ammunition inside.

Officers initially tried to stop the vehicle, but that only triggered a pursuit that ended on a nearby ranch's property, where the stolen car became stuck in a field.

CALIFORNIA MAN ARRESTED FOR IMPERSONATING DEA AGENT AFTER PULLING OVER REAL FEDERAL AGENT: OFFICIALS

The driver started shooting at authorities, who returned fire. Video taken by a witness shows the flash of a gun firing as several shots ring out. Livestock at the ranch can be seen running as the gun battle continues.

The suspect got into a shootout with police after driving onto a ranch property and getting stuck in a field.

The suspect got into a shootout with police after driving onto a ranch property and getting stuck in a field. (Julie McCartt)

"I think that was the craziest thing I ever saw," Julie McCartt told FOX12

During the exchange of gunfire, the stolen car began to smoke -- and then caught on fire, according to police.

NEBRASKA TROOPER STUNNED TO 'PULL OVER' CAR MADE OF SNOW

McCartt told FOX12 that "within a matter of minutes" the vehicle went up in flames.

When they were able to approach the vehicle, police found the driver had died.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

No members of law enforcement were injured during the shootout, but officials said the involved officers were placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol in officer-involved shootings.

Investigators are now seeking assistance in determining the driver’s identity and said the incident remains under investigation by the Douglas County Major Crimes Team.

Source: Fox News National

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Treasury won’t meet House Dems’ deadline to provide Trump tax returns, Mnuchin says

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that the department hasn't decided if it'll comply with a demand by a key House Democrat to deliver President Trump's tax returns, and won't meet a Wednesday deadline to do so.

The news came a day after Mnuchin faced off in a contentious exchange on the issue with the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, California Rep. Maxine Waters. Mnuchin, who testified for more than three hours, said he would rethink whether to reappear before the committee, based on Waters' behavior.

In a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who asked for Trump's returns a week ago, Mnuchin said Treasury would consult with the Justice Department and further review the request.

WATCH: MNUCHIN SPARS WITH MAXINE WATERS, TELLS HER TO 'BANG THE GAVEL' AS SHE GOES WIDE-EYED IN SHOCK

"The legal implications of this request could affect protections for all Americans against politically-motivated disclosures of personal tax information, regardless of which party is in power," Mnuchin wrote.

He said Treasury respects lawmakers' oversight duties, and would make sure taxpayer protections were "scrupulously observed, consistent with my statutory responsibilities."

Earlier Wednesday, Trump, who has broken with decades of presidential tradition by not releasing his returns, told reporters he wouldn't do so while he's under IRS audit. He said much the same thing last week.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies Tuesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee during a hearing on President Trump's budget. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies Tuesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee during a hearing on President Trump's budget. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

"I would love to give them, but I'm not going to do it while I'm under audit."

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News on Sunday that Democrats would "never" see Trump's returns.

The IRS says there's no rule against subjects of an audit releasing their tax filings.

The brouhaha comes as several other Democrat presidential contenders have vowed to release their returns or have already done so. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released her 2018 tax returns on Wednesday, showing she and her husband earned nearly $1 million last year.

And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced Tuesday that he'll release 10 years of tax returns on Monday -- filings expected to show that the self-declared Democratic socialist made millions from book sales.

Trump's position has long been that he is under audit and therefore unable to divulge his returns. But in recent weeks, he has added to the argument, saying publicly and privately that the American people elected him without seeing his taxes and would do so again.

"Remember, I got elected last time — the same exact issue," Trump said, echoing Mulvaney's remarks in his "Fox News Sunday" interview. "Frankly, the people don't care."

The president has told those close to him that the attempt to get his returns represented an assault on his privacy and a further example of the Democratic-led "witch hunt."

Trump has repeatedly asked aides about the status of the House request and has inquired about the "loyalty" of the top officials at the IRS, according to one outside adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

"Frankly, the people don't care."

— President Trump

Democrats didn't expect the department to comply, but they haven't sketched out their next steps. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., speaking before Mnuchin's response was delivered, said it may take Neal a couple of days to issue his own response.

House Democrats are at a party retreat in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.

Neal has adopted a methodical approach to seeking Trump's returns. He has the option of eventually seeking to subpoena the records or go to court to get them, but it's not clear if he's prepared to ratchet up the confrontation.

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders greets supporters after a rally, Saturday, March 9, 2019, at the Iowa state fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney)

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders greets supporters after a rally, Saturday, March 9, 2019, at the Iowa state fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney)

Neal's initial letter didn't lay out any consequences for the IRS if it didn't comply, and a spokesman said a likely course would be a second, more insistent, letter.

"We intend to follow through with this," Neal said Wednesday. "I'll let you know fast."

The request for Trump's tax filings is but one of many oversight efforts launched by Democrats after taking back the House in last fall's midterms. Neal is relying on a 1920s-era law that says the IRS "shall furnish" any tax return requested by the chairmen of key House and Senate committees.

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Mnuchin told lawmakers that his department will "follow the law," but he hasn't shared the department's interpretation of the statute.

The White House did not respond to questions as to whether the president asked Mnuchin or the IRS head to intervene.

The president's outside attorney also did not respond to a request for comment.

Fox News' Chad Pergram, Paulina Dedaj, Chris Wallace, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Putin, Kim Jong Un shake hands as Russia hosts North Korean leader for first summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday they had good talks about their joint efforts to resolve a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program, amid stalled negotiations with the United States.

Speaking at the start of the discussions at a university on the Russky Island across a bridge from Vladivostok, Putin voiced confidence that Kim's visit will "help better understand what should be done to settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula, what we can do together, what Russia can do to support the positive processes going on now."

Kim's first trip to Russia comes about two months after his second summit with President Donald Trump failed because of disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on the North. Putin meanwhile wants to expand Russia's clout in the region and get more leverage with Washington.

KAZIANIS: PUTIN, KIM LOOK TO IMPROVE RELATIONSHIP

"We welcome your efforts to develop an inter-Korean dialogue and normalize North Korea's relations with the United States," Putin told Kim. Following their one-on-one meeting at the start of broader talks involving officials from both sides, Putin and Kim said they had a good discussion.

"We discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and exchanged opinions about what should be done to improve the situation and how to do it," Putin said. Kim noted that they had a "very meaningful exchange."

"The reason we visited Russia this time is to meet and share opinions with your excellency, President Putin, and also share views on the Korean Peninsula and regional political situation, which has garnered the urgent attention of the world, and also hold deep discussions on strategic ways to pursue stability in the regional political situation and on the matters of jointly managing the situation," Kim said.

He also congratulated the Russian leader on his re-election to another six-year term last year.

In February, Trump-Kim talks ended without any agreement because of disputes over U.S.-led sanctions. There have since been no publicly known high-level contacts between the U.S. and North Korea, although both sides say they are still open to a third summit.

Kim wants the U.S. to ease the sanctions to reciprocate for some partial disarmament steps he took last year. But the U.S. maintains the sanctions will stay in place until North Korea makes more significant denuclearization moves.

North Korea has increasingly expressed frustration at the deadlocked negotiations. Last week, it tested a new weapon and demanded that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be removed from the nuclear talks.

Kim arrived in Vladivostok Wednesday aboard an armored train, telling Russian state television that he was hoping that his first visit to Russia would "successful and useful." He evoked his father's "great love for Russia" and said that he intends to strengthen ties between the two countries. The late Kim Jong Il made three trips to Russia, last time in 2011.

Like the U.S., Russia has strongly opposed Pyongyang's nuclear bid. Putin has welcomed Trump's meetings with Kim, but urged the U.S. to do more to assuage Pyongyang's security concerns.

Ahead of the talks, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Russia will seek to "consolidate the positive trends" stemming from Trump-Kim meetings. He noted that the Kremlin would try to help "create preconditions and a favorable atmosphere for reaching solid agreements on the problem of the Korean Peninsula."

Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said that Putin will likely encourage Kim to continue constructive talks with the U.S., reflecting Russia's own worry about the North nuclear and missile programs. "Russia can't be expected to side with North Korea and, let's say, support the North Koreans all the way in the Security Council where Russia is a veto wielding member and where all sanctions imposed on North Korea require Russia's approval," he said.

Trenin emphasized that Moscow is skeptical that the North could be persuaded to fully abandon its nuclear weapons, considering it a "mission impossible."

"North Korea will not give up the only guarantee of the survival of the North Korean state and its regime," Trenin said.

Russia would also like to gain broader access to North Korea's mineral resources, including rare metals. Pyongyang, for its part, covets Russia's electricity supplies and investment to modernize its dilapidated Soviet-built industrial plants, railways and other infrastructure.

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Vladivostok, a city of more than half a million on the Sea of Japan, faced gridlock on its roads as traffic was blocked in the city center due to Kim's visit. The authorities have temporarily closed the waters around Russky Island to all maritime traffic.

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer holds annual general meeting
Werner Baumann, CEO of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG, attends the annual general shareholders meeting in Bonn, Germany, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

BONN (Reuters) – Bayer shareholders vented their anger over its stock price slump on Friday as litigation risks mount from the German drugmaker’s $63 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.

Several large investors said they will not support aspirin investor Bayer’s management in a key vote scheduled for the end of its annual general meeting.

Bayer’s management, led by chief executive Werner Baumann, could see an embarrassing plunge in approval ratings, down from 97 percent at last year’s AGM, which was held shortly before the Monsanto takeover closed in June.

A vote to ratify the board’s actions features prominently at every German AGM. Although it has no bearing on management’s liability, it is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment.

“Due to the continued negative development at Bayer, high legal risks and a massive share price slump, we refuse to ratify the management board and supervisory board’s actions during the business year,” Janne Werning, representing Germany’s Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder, said in prepared remarks.

About 30 billion euros ($34 billion) have been wiped off Bayer’s market value since August, when a U.S. jury found the pesticide and drugs group liable because Monsanto had not warned of alleged cancer risks linked to its weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer suffered a similar defeat last month and more than 13,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages.

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

Deutsche Bank’s asset managing arm DWS said shareholders should have been consulted before the takeover, which was agreed in 2016 and closed in June last year.

“You are pointing out that the lawsuits have not been lost yet. We and our customers, however, have already lost something – money and trust,” Nicolas Huber, head of corporate governance at DWS, said in prepared remarks for the AGM.

He said DWS would abstain from the shareholder vote of confidence in the executive and non-executive boards.

Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters this week that Bayer’s largest shareholder, BlackRock, plans to either abstain from or vote against ratifying the management board’s actions.

Asset management firm Deka, among Bayer’s largest German investors, has also said it would cast a no vote.

Baumann said Bayer’s true value was not reflected in the current share price.

“There’s no way to make this look good. The lawsuits and the first verdicts weigh heavily on our company and it’s a concern for many people,” he said, adding it was the right decision to buy Monsanto and that Bayer was vigorously defending itself.

This month, shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recommended investors not to give the executive board their seal of approval.

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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