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Chipotle same-store sales top estimates

FILE PHOTO: A Chipotle Mexican Grill is seen in Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: A Chipotle Mexican Grill is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

April 24, 2019

(Reuters) – Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc beat analysts’ expectations for quarterly same-store sales on Wednesday, as the fast-casual chain’s emphasis on fresher menu and investments in online ordering and delivery boosted customer transactions.

Sales at restaurants open for at least 13 months rose 9.9 percent in the first quarter ended March 31, well above analysts’ average estimate of 7.29 percent, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Revenue rose nearly 14 percent to $1.31 billion, beating estimates of $1.26 billion.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: OANN

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S&P, Nasdaq futures edge higher following lackluster week; Boeing pressures Dow

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 11, 2019

By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures eked out gains on Monday as investors took a cautious stance after a weak U.S. jobs report raised questions of slowing global growth, while a slide in planemaker Boeing’s shares pressured Dow futures.

Boeing Co tumbled 8.9 percent in premarket trading after many airlines grounded the world’s biggest planemaker’s new 737 MAX 8 passenger jet following the second deadly crash in just five months.

The S&P 500 index is now nearly 7 percent away from its record high hit on Sept. 20. The benchmark index ended the week 2.2 percent lower, its biggest weekly decline since the market tumbled at the end of 2018.

The U.S. report on Friday showed employment growth almost stalled in February, which added to economic fears that were already fanned by a sharp fall in China’s exports and after the European Central Bank slashed growth forecasts for the region last week.

As concerns of a slowing economy linger at the surface, the Commerce Department’s retail sales data at 8:30 a.m. ET, will be closely monitored.

The numbers are expected to show retail sales dipped 0.1 percent in January after a shocking 1.2 percent fall in the month before, which suggested a sharp slowdown at the end of 2018.

In a bright spot, the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stuck to his dovish message on Sunday. He said the central bank does “not feel any hurry” to change the level of interest rates again as it watches how a slowing global economy affects conditions in the United States.

At 6:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 173 points, or 0.68 percent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.5 points, or 0.05 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 13.25 points, or 0.19 percent.

China and the United States are still working day and night to achieve a trade deal that matches the interests of both sides and the hopes of the world, including eliminating tit-for-tat tariffs, a senior Chinese official said on Saturday.

Apple Inc rose 1.7 percent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the iPhone maker’s shares to “buy” from “neutral” saying the pulling back in its shares present a buying opportunity.

Nvidia Corp fell 1.4 percent after the chipmaker said it will buy Mellanox Technologies Ltd for more than $6.78 billion in cash. The Israeli chip designer jumped 9.4 percent.

In other news, President Donald Trump on Monday will ask lawmakers to hike spending for the military and the wall he wants to build on the U.S.-Mexico border and slash other programs in his 2020 budget.

The Republican president’s proposal, slated for release at 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), is expected to be rejected by Congress.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Source: OANN

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Prosecutors target officer’s report of noise before shooting

Prosecutors in the case of a Minneapolis police officer who shot an unarmed woman have been hammering away at what could be a key element of Mohamed Noor's defense — that he heard a loud slap against his police SUV that stirred fears of an ambush.

The prosecution has tried to raise doubts about whether that slap occurred and attacked officers and investigators for apparent missteps, noting that police at the scene turned body cameras on and off at will, did not share information and possibly disturbed evidence, according to court testimony.

Noor, 33, is on trial for murder and manslaughter in the July 15, 2017, death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who reported a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. She was shot after she approached the vehicle.

One point of contention is whether Damond slapped the SUV, causing a thump that Noor's partner, officer Matthew Harrity, testified scared him so much that he drew his weapon. Defense attorneys for Noor have said he also heard a loud bang on the squad car, but prosecutors have suggested the slap was concocted. They insist the officers faced no threat.

Harrity testified that he did not tell anyone about the thump on the night of the shooting. The first time he spoke about a noise was three days later, when he sat down for an interview with his attorney and state investigators. But somehow, the notion that Damond slapped the car made its way into a search warrant affidavit hours after the shooting.

"There was a conspicuous absence of information," Chris Olson, assistant agent in charge of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, testified this week.

As he was trying to figure out what happened, Olson said, the scene's incident commander, Minneapolis police Sgt. Shannon Barnette, told him she had a brief conversation with Harrity, and that it sounded like Damond had made contact with the car. Olson gave contradictory testimony about whether he or Barnette first suggested that Damond slapped the car, and how that information was passed on to another BCA investigator who crafted the search warrant.

Bradford Colbert, a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, said that under law, Noor had a right to use deadly force to protect himself or others. For prosecutors, Colbert said, the preferred narrative would be that Damond was shot after merely appearing at the window. For the defense, it would be better if Damond slapped the car, creating the loud, startling noise.

"I can see why the state would be arguing or trying to convey that there was no slap," he said.

Jennifer Kostroski, a BCA latent print examiner, testified there was no forensic evidence to show Damond touched the squad car. But under questioning from the defense, she said knuckles or a backhand slap would not leave prints.

Other witnesses said the squad car was partially dusted for fingerprints — but not entirely — then sent to be washed just hours after the shooting.

"They certainly could've handled it better," said Marsh Halberg, a Minneapolis defense attorney who is not connected to the case. He stopped short of saying investigators made mistakes, but said, "in hindsight, I think everyone could agree things could've been done more smoothly, more thoroughly, more independently."

Representatives of the Minneapolis Police Department and the state BCA said they could not comment.

The trial has revealed other apparent missteps by investigators. Some Minneapolis police officers turned their body cameras on and off, so it's possible that key statements went undocumented. One officer was not told that Noor fired from inside the vehicle, so he entered the car and possibly disturbed evidence. Another investigator was concerned that Damond had been covered by a sheet, again possibly disturbing evidence.

And, one witness testified, state investigators did not follow up on information about the original 911 call made by Damond, so prosecutors conducted their own investigation. Some officers on the scene did not initially know they were dealing with a police shooting — though body camera video shows Harrity and Noor reported that to the first responding officers.

Barnette testified last week that she did not speak with Noor about the shooting that night, acknowledging on the witness stand that if she had, he might have provided different information than his partner.

Colbert said it's possible the state is raising these issues in an attempt to show that "everybody knew this went down wrong," and police responded by going into cover-up mode.

"If it was just simply an accident, you wouldn't go to those lengths. That seems to me to be the state's strategy," Colbert said, adding that prosecutors seem be trying to show that police "knew from the get-go that this is wrong, and they are just trying to cover their tracks."

___

Check out the AP's complete coverage of Mohamed Noor's trial.

Source: Fox News National

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20 US Schools on Lockdown as FBI Hunt For ‘Columbine-Infatuated’ Teen

More than 20 schools have been temporarily placed on lockdown in Colorado as US authorities investigate a “credible threat” just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the notorious Columbine High School shooting.

An “armed and extremely dangerous” woman, identified as Sol Pais, had been making “credible” threats and traveled to Colorado on Monday night, the FBI and local authorities have warned. Authorities requested the lockout in Jefferson County on Tuesday afternoon as they searched for the suspect, whose description was released on Twitter with a warning not to approach her.

“Last night Sol Pais traveled here to Colorado and she made threats to commit an act of violence in this area, she is armed and considered dangerous,” Mike Taplin of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office told local media.

Classes continued as normal at most of the affected schools, except for Columbine, which canceled after-school activities. No one was allowed to enter or exit the premises until the end of the school day.

According to a BOLO (Be on the Lookout) notice sent out by Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, 18-year-old Pais is “infatuated with Columbine school shooting” and was “attempting to buy firearms.” She was most recently seen in the “foothills” of Jefferson County.

Local authorities are on edge as Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the deadly Columbine massacre, in which two students gunned down 12 students and a teacher.


Big Tech is immune to F.O.I.A. requests in certain cases of wrongdoing, so the best thing for society is to have employees of Big Tech become whistleblowers.

Source: InfoWars

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Congress To See Ex-WH Official Accused in Security Scandal

A former White House official who was accused of overturning security clearances for people who were found to have “serious disqualifying issues” will appear before the House Oversight Committee on April 23, The Washington Post reports.

Carl Kline, the former White House personnel security director, will testify as part of the panel’s investigation into security clearances in President Donald Trump’s White House. A whistleblower in his office accused him of granting security clearances to people that she and some of her fellow employees had found issue with.

“I regret the circumstances that have resulted in the committee on Oversight and Reform electing to subpoena Carl Kline, despite our legitimate offer to have him appear voluntarily,” Kline’s lawyer, Robert N. Driscoll, wrote in a letter to the committee.

Tricia Newbold, the whistleblower, told the committee last March that Kline overruled several clearance-denial recommendations, including a clearance application from White House adviser Jared Kushner, and subsequently retaliated when she complained.

“By corollary, it is not Mr. Kline’s role to comment on the strength of any such assertions, but to comply with instructions from the White House regarding appropriate scope of testimony,” Driscoll wrote. “I fully understand you may not see things the same way, but it is my sincere hope that we can avoid a harmful and costly inter-branch dispute that has a 40-plus year public servant and military veteran hanging in the balance.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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EU cannot keep granting two-week Brexit delays: Timmermans

European Commission Vice President Timmermans holds a news conference in Brussels
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans holds a news conference after the weekly college meeting in Brussels, Belgium, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

April 3, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Union cannot keep delaying Britain’s departure from the bloc by another two weeks, the deputy head of the European Commission said in remarks published on Thursday.

First Vice President Frans Timmermans told Germany’s Die Welt newspaper that the European Union had reached the limit of what it can offer Britain in terms of concessions to break the deadlock.

“We cannot forever continue this way in the Brexit negotiations and always extend by two weeks,” he said. “The British parliament must now make a decision and finally say what London wants.”

He added: “The key is not with London. We have a commitment toward EU citizens, to protect the EU single market, to protect Ireland and protect the principles of the European Union.

“We will continue to do this with all determination. The EU also has its limits. And we have reached those limits.”

He said it was important that British Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reach a deal to overcome the deadlock created by parliament’s rejection of an exit deal May had reached with the EU.

At a summit last week, EU leaders gave Britain effectively until next week either to ratify May’s deal and then exit by May 22, present a credible alternative plan to secure a much longer extension, or leave without a deal on April 12.

Timmermans said that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, British citizens were unlikely to need a visa if they wished to visit the EU for a short period of time.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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Britain Would Be Happier With U.S., Canada

As a member of Their Lordships' House, I have carefully canvassed a good many well-informed British friends about the astonishing sequence of political events in that country's relations with the European Union to see if anything could be predict

Read Full Article »

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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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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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