Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

India’s RCom pays 4.6 billion rupees to Sweden’s Ericsson

FILE PHOTO: A man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a closed shop painted with an advertisement of Reliance Communications in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a closed shop painted with an advertisement of Reliance Communications in Mumbai, India, January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File Photo

March 18, 2019

(Reuters) – Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has received 4.62 billion rupees ($67.42 million) from Indian telecoms firm Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), a spokeswoman for Ericsson said on Monday.

Late last month, India’s top court had ordered Anil Ambani’s RCom and two of its directors to pay Ericsson 4.5 billion rupees within four weeks or face a three-month jail term for contempt of court.

RCom owes a total 5.71 billion rupees to Ericsson, including a one-time settlement of 5.5 billion rupees and interest payments of 210 million rupees.

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)

Source: OANN

0 0

IMF managing director says economy at ‘delicate moment’

The head of the International Monetary Fund says the global economy is at a "delicate moment" with a hoped-for rebound in growth later this year being threatened by a variety of factors from such as rising trade tensions.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde says the IMF does not expect a recession in its updated forecast to be released next week as long as policy missteps are avoided. She said one encouraging development was the move by the Federal Reserve to put interest rates on hold this year.

Lagarde says that "nobody wins a trade war." She said new IMF research shows that an increase in tariffs of 25 percentage points on all goods traded between the United States and China would reduce U.S. growth by 0.6 percentage points.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

North Korea considering suspending nuclear talks with U.S.: TASS

FILE PHOTO: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un visits Vietnam
FILE PHOTO: Hyon Song Wol, head of the North Korean Samjiyon art troupe takes a photo of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-Hui (C) ahead of the welcoming ceremony of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (not pictured) at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam March 1, 2019. Luong Thai Linh/Pool via REUTERS

March 15, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea is considering suspending nuclear talks with the United States, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Friday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

North Korea has no intention to yield to U.S. demands or engage in negotiations of this kind, Choe told a press conference in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, TASS reported.

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is set to make an official announcement soon on his position regarding talks with United States, TASS reported, citing Choe.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

0 0

Biden finally confirms campaign launch plans


**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**

On the roster: Biden finally confirms campaign launch plans - Trump 2020 heads to Pennsylvania - House requests block to Trump border wall funding - Trump’s actions could cause trouble post Mueller - What a waste of pasta

BIDEN FINALLY CONFIRMS CAMPAIGN LAUNCH PLANS
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “After days of uncertainty about the former vice president's plans, Joe Biden plans to announce his candidacy for president on Thursday [via video], then visit Pittsburgh for an event on Monday. … Then, at the beginning of next week, he will appear at an event at the Teamsters Local 249 hall in Lawrenceville at 4 p.m., another source with direct knowledge of the booking told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday. Mr. Biden was rumored to have scheduled an event in Pittsburgh this week on the same day as an announcement, but his plans reportedly shifted late Monday. The former vice president's campaign appears to be capitalizing on the intrigue, sending an email to supporters Tuesday urging them to sign up to be the ‘first to know’ his plans. People with direct knowledge of Mr. Biden's campaign strategy told Politico this week that Mr. Biden is working to lock down the support of national labor unions.”

Obama staying on the sidelines as Biden gets ready to launch - Fox News: “[When he announces] don’t expect his running mate for two election cycles – former President Barack Obama – to speak out in support of Biden’s 2020 bid. The 44th president plans to remain on the sidelines right now in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Two sources familiar with Obama’s thinking say the former president has made clear he doesn’t plan on endorsing early in the primary process – if at all. They add that Obama prefers to let the candidates make their cases directly to the voters and that former first lady Michelle Obama feels the same way. ‘He’s not likely to endorse in the primary,’ a source who talks with the former president told Fox News. … While he’s remaining neutral, Obama has met over the past several months with a number of candidates in the large field of Democratic 2020 contenders – offering guidance from someone who’s gone through what they’re going through now.”

Silver: ‘Sanders-related panic is premature’ - FiveThirtyEight: “If there’s one thing the Democratic establishment is good at, it’s panicking. And the latest reason for panic among Democratic insiders is Bernie Sanders. … Should Democratic insiders really be worried that Sanders will be nominated and cost them an election against President Trump that they’d otherwise win? … Sanders-related panic is premature for at least three reasons: 1. While Sanders is one of perhaps a dozen candidates with a plausible shot at the nomination, the field is fairly wide open, and it’s too early to say how formidable he is. 2. It’s also too early to conclude very much about Sanders’s ‘electability’ against Trump, especially in comparison to other Democrats. 3. Finally, even if they wanted to stop Sanders, it’s too early for the party establishment to know how to go about doing that — without more input from rank-and-file voters, any move meant to hinder Sanders could backfire.”

Thomas Edsall: ‘Bernie Sanders Scares a Lot of People, and Quite a Few of Them Are Democrats’ - NYT: “In the most important election in the lifetime of many Democrats — with Trump poised for a second term — the electability of the Democratic nominee is the top concern. Sanders has never been tested in a general election. His only experience running against Republicans has been in Vermont, a state ranked third most liberal in the nation and second most Democratic, according to Gallup.”

Beto begins California campaign Saturday - LAT: “Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke of Texas will launch his 2020 California primary campaign Saturday with a four-day driving tour of the state. The former El Paso congressman will stop at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College downtown for an outdoor rally at 4 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday, O’Rourke is planning a town hall at the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco, followed by multiple stops in the Central Valley on Monday. He wraps up his visit Tuesday morning with a town hall in San Diego. Notably absent from O’Rourke’s itinerary are the private Hollywood and Silicon Valley fundraisers that presidential candidates typically hold during visits to California. Spokesman Chris Evans said O’Rourke has held no fundraising events and has not scheduled any.”

Inslee’s Super PAC uses Facebook for critical voter data - Daily Beast: “A super PAC supporting Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) has developed a way to share information and strategy with his presidential campaign in a manner that experts say is both novel and right at the end of the legal boundaries for permissible coordination. The super PAC, Act Now On Climate, is currently running advertisements with subtle, embedded signals that the campaign can mine for critical voter information and use to hone its own social media and advertising strategies. The tactic has drawn the attention of Democratic digital strategists and raised eyebrows among ethics watchdogs. But the campaign hasn’t asked for the help and says it isn’t mining the data. … The apparent key to the scheme is Act Now On Climate’s Facebook page, which it’s used to run hundreds of pro-Inslee ads since March. The vast majority of those ads … link directly to the Inslee campaign’s official website…”

Phish? - LAT: “…[A]lthough Buttigieg, 37, hasn’t told voters much thus far about how he’d govern a profoundly divided nation, we already know a fair amount about something almost as important: Mayor Pete’s eclectic taste in pop music. Buttigieg is an avowed Dave Matthews Band fan whose repertoire as a garage-band keyboardist includes ‘The Way We Get By,’ by Austin indie-rock lifers Spoon; last week he cited Everlast’s 1998 folk-rap lament ‘What It’s Like’ as an example of ‘the way we should come to politics.’ His official campaign-trail playlist — as tweeted out by Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten Buttigieg — features crowd-pumpers like Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Up Around the Bend,’ Florence and the Machine’s ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and Curtis Mayfield’s Obama-approved ‘Move On Up,’ but also ‘Tweezer Reprise,’ the propulsive studio version of a live staple by the Vermont jam band Phish.”

THE RULEBOOK: IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER TOO!
“The improvements in the art of navigation have, as to the facility of communication, rendered distant nations, in a great measure, neighbors.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 24

TIME OUT: ‘IN BOOKS LIES THE SOUL OF THE WHOLE PAST TIME’
History: “[On this day] President John Adams approves legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase ‘such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress,’ thus establishing the Library of Congress. The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in the U.S. Capitol, the library’s first home. The first library catalog, dated April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. Twelve years later, the British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol, including the then 3,000-volume Library of Congress. Former president Thomas Jefferson, who advocated the expansion of the library during his two terms in office, responded to the loss by selling his personal library, the largest and finest in the country, to Congress to ‘recommence’ the library. … Today, the collection, housed in three enormous buildings in Washington, contains more than 17 million books, as well as millions of maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints, and drawings.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.8 percent
Average disapproval: 52 percent
Net Score: -9.2 points
Change from one week ago: no change 
[Average includes: Fox News: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; Monmouth University: 40% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; GU Politics/Battleground: 43% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove.]

TRUMP 2020 HEADS TO PENNSYLVANIA
Politico: “Senior Trump 2020 advisers are headed to Harrisburg on Wednesday to meet with Pennsylvania GOP officials amid mounting concerns about the president’s prospects in the critical battleground state. Trump's campaign is moving to shore up the state after 2018 midterm elections that saw Republicans get blown out in races up and down the ballot. Compounding the situation is a state party organization riven by turmoil and infighting. The private meeting, confirmed by a half-dozen party officials, underscores the high stakes for the president in the state. Trump won Pennsylvania by less than 1 percentage point in 2016, and reelection aides view the state’s 20 electoral votes as crucial to his 2020 hopes. … The Trump contingent is expected to include political director Chris Carr, who is orchestrating the campaign’s national field deployment, as well as Bill Stepien and Justin Clark, who are overseeing outreach to delegates and state party organizations. Republican National Committee officials are also expected to attend.”

Former Sen. Bob Corker says GOP needs a ‘real primary’ - Time: “Former Sen. Bob Corker said it would be good for the country if President Donald Trump faced a strong Republican challenger in the 2020 presidential primaries. ‘Philosophically, you could look at it and say that it would be a good thing for our country should that occur,’ he said in an interview during the TIME 100 Summit in New York City on Tuesday afternoon. ‘If you had a real primary, where you had someone that was really being listened to, and of substance, things that we were talking about — and I could go through a list of them — they would actually be debated in a real way.’ … Corker, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he always intended to leave the Senate after two terms, which he did. But he made no promises that he wouldn’t run for office again, including against Trump for the Republican nomination.”

HOUSE REQUESTS BLOCK TO TRUMP BORDER WALL FUNDING
Politico: “The House of Representatives has asked a federal judge to block President Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall using Defense Department funds. On Tuesday, House lawyers requested that U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issue a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s plan to spend about $6 billion from military construction and counter-drug accounts to build additional barriers along the U.S-Mexico border. … The House’s 56-page motion accuses Trump of trying to make an end-run around the Constitution by ignoring Congress’s power of the purse. House lawyers also seek to use Trump’s own words against him… However, the House motion seems to avoid a direct challenge to Trump’s emergency declaration. Instead, House lawyers argue that the planned spending doesn’t satisfy other legal requirements, like a need for use of the armed forces and a need to support those forces.”

Acting DHS chief states family separations isn’t an option - NBC News: “Acting Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan said separating migrant families at the U.S. southern border is ‘not on the table,’ and the policy was ‘not worth it’ from an enforcement perspective. In his first network interview as acting DHS secretary to broadcast, McAleenan told NBC News' Lester Holt on Tuesday, ‘We're not pursuing that approach.’ McAleenan's predecessor, Kirstjen Nielsen, was forced out of the job earlier this month, in part because she'd refused to reinstate the policy of separating children from their families at the border, U.S. officials have told NBC News. Nielsen had implemented the policy last year, but it was blocked by the courts. … Of the children separated from their families at the border, McAleenan claimed ‘they were always intended to be reunited,’ which is a ‘part of this story that I think had been lost.’ … McAleenan insisted the family separation policy wasn't coming back.”

Scoop on Kushner’s immigration plan - Axios: “In his private briefings on his yet-to-be-released immigration plan, Jared Kushner has told people his plan will be ‘neutral’ on immigration numbers, multiple administration and Hill sources familiar with the proposal tell Axios. Why it matters: By neutral, Kushner says he means it will neither raise nor lower the overall number of legal immigrants coming into the U.S. Kushner has told Axios' sources, which includes a handful of Republican lawmakers, that he wants the plan to increase the numbers of high-skilled immigrants entering the U.S. and to decrease the number of immigrants coming based on their family ties. Kushner plans to turn his proposal into legislation and he told TIME’s Brian Bennett on Tuesday that he would present the plan to President Trump in the coming days.”

TRUMP’S ACTIONS COULD CAUSE TROUBLE POST MUELLER
Politico: “Special counsel Robert Mueller may be done, but President Donald Trump and his team are still adding to an already hefty record of evidence that could fuel impeachment proceedings or future criminal indictments. Team Trump’s bellicose tweets and public statements in the last few days are potentially exposing Trump to fresh charges of witness intimidation, obstruction of justice and impeding a congressional investigation — not to mention giving lawmakers more fodder for their presidential probes — according to Democrats and legal experts. Already, a fusillade of verbal assaults aimed at former White House counsel Don McGahn, a star witness in the Mueller report, have sparked questions about obstruction and witness intimidation as Democrats fight the Trump White House to get McGahn’s documents and testimony. ‘This is risky,’ said William Jeffress, a prominent Washington defense attorney who represented President Richard Nixon after he left the White House. … It’s a lesson some thought Trump would have learned during the Mueller investigation.”

Team Trump openly opposes Congress requests for WH aides to testify - WaPo: “President Trump on Tuesday said he is opposed to current and former White House aides providing testimony to congressional panels in the wake of the special counsel report, intensifying a power struggle between his administration and House Democrats. In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said that complying with congressional requests was unnecessary after the White House cooperated with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of Russian interference and the president’s own conduct in office. ‘There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan,’ Trump said. Trump’s comments came as the White House made it clear that it plans to broadly defy requests for information from Capitol Hill, moving the two branches of government closer to a constitutional collision.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Mnuchin shows no signs of handing over Trump tax returns - Politico

President Trump, first lady to speak on opioids at summit in Atlanta - Fox News

Pelosi, Schumer will meet with Trump next week to discuss infrastructure - Politico

Trump held private meeting with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Tuesday - WaPo

Pew survey finds women to be the most ‘prolific people’ on Twitter - CNBC

AUDIBLE: OH…?
“When I have to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives, and look up at those 400-and-some accusers — you know we just passed through Easter and Christ's passion — and I have better insight into what He went through for us, partly because of that experience.” – Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said during a town hall at Western Iowa Tech Community College Tuesday.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

WHAT A WASTE OF PASTA
KNON2: “What started off as a joke, turned into a cool invention. Youtuber Laplanet Arts, also known as Micah LaPlante, built a computer entirely out of pasta. He did it after joking with his wife about the idea. LaPlante used the inside parts of an old computer, and created a case using lasagna, rigatoni, hot glue, electric tape and paint. Lasagna PC version one, has direct computer functions in the front. He said he had issues getting Windows going, but eventually got the system fired up and working. But it struggled to stay up, especially when he tried to play video games. In the end, the old computer adage applied. It was then boiled, mock-eaten, then pitched in the trash.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“I have a horror of the blank page. I simply cannot write on a blank page or screen. Because once I do, I start to fix it, and I never get past the first sentence.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) said in an interview with Timothy Carney, published on Oct. 24, 2013.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Soldier walking across US to aid other vets

A retired Army infantryman is walking across the U.S.

But no, it's not a scene from "Forrest Gump," and he's not crossing the country on a whim.

Alabama native Van Booth is walking across the U.S. to raise money for Operation Song, a nonprofit program that helps veterans, active-duty military and their families tell their stories.

The program is unique in how it helps veterans tap the power of song, pairing them with songwriters.

Operation Song is close to Booth's heart. He says that listening to his own story turned into a song was very healing and helped him cope with memories and lost comrades.

Retired veteran Van Booth walks a highway in Nevada to help veterans in need. So far he's walked 114 miles.

Retired veteran Van Booth walks a highway in Nevada to help veterans in need. So far he's walked 114 miles. (Walking for Life/Facebook)

He says it's hard for veterans to remember past trauma they've experienced in combat. It's much easier to talk about that material via music.

"It pairs a veteran with a national hit-making songwriter to help veterans get things off their chest they can't normally say," he explained to WZDX. "It seems to be easier to do over song, and it works."

On Friday Booth had just trekked through the state of Nevada. He aims to cover more than 2,800 miles with just a large stroller, equipped with a pouch to hold his guitar.

"The stringless guitar, meaning a silent guitar, represents the soldiers and veterans who aren't here anymore," Booth told WZDX.

"As of today, I'm about 114 miles total in my walk. I have been walking for the past week," Booth said.

Booth served as an infantryman from 1995 to 2016, taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He has been tweeting from the Pony Express trail in Nevada.

The best part for Booth is meeting new people along the way and having them open up to him.

"The amount of people I run into, the stories, it's just been amazing," he said.

Booth is also a member of Bearded Warriors, a veteran support group. There he met his friend Ty Oswald, who along with other members of the group, ise encouraging him along his journey.

"We talk about him every day," Oswald told WZDX. "We're all keeping up with him and trying to figure out how to make it easier for him or if there's stuff he needs and we can drop-ship him.

"We're super-proud of him. He's not doing it for anyone but everyone else."

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Trump Slams “Illegal And Treasonous” Deep Staters

Donald Trump slammed the deep staters who, it appears, plotted to unseat him from the Presidency by abusing the 25th Amendment.

Trump took to Twitter and hammered former Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, accusing him of lying, following a CBS interview Sunday during which he claimed that the Department of Justice sought to force Trump out of office.

“Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged.” Trump tweeted.

The president also blasted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, saying that McCabe and “Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.”

“There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more.” Trump wrote.

“This was the illegal and treasonous “insurance policy” in full action!” Trump added, referring to the term used by FBI agent Peter Strzok to describe the deep state plan to oust Trump should he win the election.

During McCabe’s interview, he asserted that Rosenstein was “counting votes, or counting possible votes” among cabinet officials to unseat the President.

Attempting to exonerate himself, McCabe claimed “I didn’t have much to contribute” and that Rosenstein was the driving force behind the attempted coup.

“The deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time,” he claimed.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Ethiopia to release preliminary report into cause of Ethiopian Airlines crash

FILE PHOTO: People walk at the scene of the Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu
FILE PHOTO: A passenger safety instruction card is seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 10, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

April 1, 2019

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Ethiopia will release a preliminary report on Monday into the cause of an Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The report will be released by the Ministry of Transport, Nebiyat Getachew told Reuters, although a time had not yet been set.

(Reporting by Maggie Fick; writing by Katharine Houreld, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist