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Top 25 roundup: No. 3 North Carolina beats No. 4 Duke again

NCAA Basketball: Duke at North Carolina
Mar 9, 2019; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Coby White (2) reacts in the second half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

March 10, 2019

Freshman guard Coby White ignited a second-half surge and finished with 21 points as third-ranked North Carolina defeated fourth-ranked Duke 79-70 Saturday night in Chapel Hill, N.C., to claim a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

North Carolina will be the second seed, and Duke will be the No. 3 seed for the ACC Tournament in Charlotte. There could be a semifinals rematch Friday night.

Senior guard Kenny Williams scored 18 points in his last home game; Cameron Johnson, another senior, netted 14 points, and Garrison Brooks tallied 10 points. Nassir Little scored all nine of his points in the first half for the Tar Heels.

RJ Barrett pumped in 26 points and Cam Reddish scored 17 of his 23 in the first half for Duke.

No. 2 Virginia 73, Louisville 68

The Cavaliers clinched a share of the ACC regular-season title with their win over the Cardinals in Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers wrapped up their fourth regular-season conference title in the last six seasons ahead of next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte, where they are the defending champions. No. 3 North Carolina beat No. 4 Duke later Saturday to claim the other share of the regular-season championship.

Junior guard Ty Jerome led all scorers with 24 points and added six assists and four rebounds. Louisville (19-12, 10-8) gave the Cavaliers all they wanted as the Cardinals put four players in double figures led by Jordan Nwora, who scored 19 points.

Auburn 84, No. 5 Tennessee 80

Chuma Okeke scored 22 points and notched four steals to help the host Tigers upset the Volunteers in their Southeastern Conference matchup.

Jared Harper had 16 points and eight assists, and senior guard Bryce Brown also scored 16 points for the Tigers (22-9, 11-7).

Grant Williams had 25 points and nine rebounds for the Volunteers (27-4, 15-3).

No. 6 Kentucky 66, Florida 57

The Wildcats pulled away in the second half against the Gators in Lexington, Ky., as Tyler Herro scored 16 points.

With Tennessee losing to Auburn earlier Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats (26-5, 15-3 SEC) looked to claim a three-way share of the league title. But LSU beat Vanderbilt later Saturday night to spoil Kentucky’s hopes.

Sophomore forward PJ Washington added 15 points and nine rebounds for Kentucky. Freshman guards Keldon Johnson and Ashton Hagans each had 14 points. Senior center Kevarrius Hayes led the Gators (17-14, 9-9) with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

No. 9 Michigan State 75, No. 7 Michigan 63

Cassius Winston overcame a poor shooting night to score 23 points and lead the host Spartans over the Wolverines in East Lansing, Mich.

Michigan State (25-6, 16-4 Big Ten) clinched a share of the Big Ten championship with Purdue while locking up the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament. Michigan (26-5, 15-5) finished a game out of first place and will be the third seed in the conference tournament.

Winston also handed out seven assists for the Spartans while Xavier Tillman scored 17 and Kenny Goins had nine points and 16 rebounds. Ignas Brazdeikis scored 20 for the Wolverines, but he fouled out with 5:10 left in the game. Jordan Poole added 15 points.

No. 8 Texas Tech 80, Iowa State 73

Improved shooting fueled a timely run and led the Red Raiders past the Cyclones to earn a share of the Big 12 Conference championship for the first time in league history.

Brandone Francis drained a clutch 3-pointer with 3:37 to snap a 65-65 tie and Jarrett Culver followed with a basket for two of his game-high 31 points to supply enough breathing room to hold on for the win.

Davide Moretti continued to quietly operate as one of the Big 12’s off-the-radar standouts with 20 points and joined Culver with four 3-pointers as the Raiders finished 11 for 26 from outside the arc. Matt Mooney scored 13 and led Tech with five assists, while Tariq Owens snared 14 rebounds.

No. 10 LSU 80, Vanderbilt 59

Playing without suspended head coach Will Wade and two of its top four scorers, the Tigers routed the Commodores in Baton Rouge, La.

Tremont Waters scored 14 points and had eight assists as LSU (26-5, 16-2) captured its first outright regular-season SEC title since 2009. Vanderbilt was paced by Saben Lee with 16 points.

With the sellout crowd waving “Free Will Wade” signs, LSU easily dispatched Vanderbilt (9-22, 0-18), which lost its last 19 games of the season and was the first team since Georgia Tech in 1953-54 to go winless in SEC play.

No. 13 Kansas 78, Baylor 70

Dedric Lawson recorded his 20th double-double, posting 23 points and 14 rebounds as the Jayhawks got past the Bears in Lawrence, Kan.

Although the Jayhawks (23-8, 12-6 Big 12) were eliminated from the Big 12 title chase earlier in the week, they finished undefeated at home for the 21st time.

Freshman guard Devon Dotson and freshman center David McCormack added 15 and 12 points, respectively. Jared Butler led Baylor (19-12, 10-8) with 31 points.

No. 14 Florida State 65, Wake Forest 57

The Seminoles won their 12th game in 13 tries by closing out the regular-season schedule with a win over the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Guard Trent Forrest had 11 points and five assists for the Seminoles (25-6, 13-5 ACC). Senior forward Phil Cofer added nine points in the victory, which set a school record for conference wins since the Seminoles joined the ACC in 1992.

Wake Forest fell to 11-19 overall and 4-14 in ACC play. The Demon Deacons were paced by guard Brandon Childress, who scored a game-high 13 points. Wake Forest guard Chaundee Brown added 11 points.

Georgetown 86, No. 16 Marquette 84

James Akinjo racked up 25 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Hoyas denied the Golden Eagles a share of the Big East title.

The 16th-ranked Eagles (23-8, 12-6) could have pulled even with Villanova after the Wildcats lost to Seton Hall earlier in the afternoon. But they instead dropped their fourth straight heading into the conference tournament.

Mac McClung supplied 23 points for the Hoyas (19-12, 9-9), while Jessie Govan and Jamorko Pickett had 10 points apiece. Markus Howard’s 28 points led Marquette. Joey Hauser had 16 points, Sacar Anim added 12 and Brendan Bailey tossed in 11.

No. 17 Nevada 81, San Diego State 53

Caleb Martin recorded 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds and the Wolf Pack earned the top seed in next week’s Mountain West Conference tournament by blowing out the Aztecs in Reno, Nev.

Jordan Caroline added 16 points and 12 rebounds to extend his Mountain West double-double record to 45. Cody Martin scored 14 points and senior power forward Trey Porter added 13 for the Wolf Pack (28-3, 15-3). Senior guard Jeremy Hemsley scored 16 points for San Diego State (19-12, 11-7).

Nevada tied with Utah State for first place in the conference. The two teams split their regular-season matchups, but the Wolf Pack win the tiebreaker because they swept third-place Fresno State while the Aggies split with the Bulldogs.

No. 18 Kansas State 68, Oklahoma 53

The Wildcats got a combined 45 points from its three seniors to knock off the Sooners on Senior Day in Manhattan, Kan.

The victory gave the Wildcats a share of their first Big 12 regular-season title since they shared the 2013 title with Kansas. Texas Tech defeated Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, earlier to claim a share.

The Wildcats, who will be the No. 1 seed at next week’s Big 12 Championship in Kansas City, were led by Kamau Stokes with 19 points. Barry Brown added 15 and Dean Wade added 11. Kristian Doolittle led Oklahoma (19-12, 7-11) with 14 points, and Jamal Bieniemy added 12.

No. 22 Wofford 99, Virginia Military Institute 72

Six Terriers players scored in double figures as they opened Southern Conference Tournament play by trouncing the Keydets in the quarterfinals in Asheville, N.C.

Nathan Hoover led Wofford (27-4, 18-0) with 17 points, while Chevez Goodwin notched 14 and Keve Aluma added 12. The Terriers will play East Tennessee State in Sunday’s semifinals.

Bubba Parham, the conference’s leading scorer, notched 14 of his 22 points in the first half for VMI (11-21, 4-14).

Seton Hall 79, No. 23 Villanova 75

Myles Powell scored 20 points and Sandro Mamukelashvili added 12 points and 18 rebounds as the host Pirates toppled the Wildcats in Newark, N.J.

Seton Hall (18-12, 9-9 Big East) remained on the NCAA Tournament bubble while preventing Villanova (22-9, 13-5) from earning the outright conference regular-season title, but only until Marquette lost to Georgetown later in the day.

Myles Cale scored 19 points, Jared Rhoden had 15 and Michael Nzei delivered 10 for Seton Hall. Collin Gillespie led Villanova with 22 points, while Phil Booth scored 16, Saddiq Bey had 13 and Jermaine Samuels had 10.

Temple 67, No. 25 UCF 62

Guard Quinton Rose scored nine of his 11 points over the last nine minutes of the game to spark the Owls’ upset of the Knights in their American Athletic Conference game in Philadelphia.

Guard Shizz Alston Jr. scored 21 points to lead the Owls (23-8, 13-5), who moved into a tie for third place with the Knights (23-7, 13-5) and kept alive their hopes for a No. 3 seed in next week’s league tournament in Memphis.

Rose’s late heroics and Alston’s steady play overcame a huge game from UCF junior guard Aubrey Dawkins, the son of Knights coach Johnny Dawkins, who was a game-time decision to play after hurting his back two nights earlier. Dawkins scored a career-high 36 points.

Murray State 77, Belmont 65

The Racers punched the first ticket to this year’s NCAA Tournament by rallying to beat the Bruins in the Ohio Valley Conference championship game in Evansville, Ind.

Prized NBA prospect Ja Morant scored 36 points to help Murray State advance. The Racers trailed 31-26 at halftime but outscored Belmont 51-34 in the second half.

Murray State (27-4, 16-2) closed the game with 11 straight points against Belmont (26-5, 16-2).

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Cars and cheap loans a shaky foundation for Hungary’s baby boom plan

Scharle and her husband play with their daughter in Budakeszi, a western suburb of Budapest
Julia Scharle and her husband play with their daughter in Budakeszi, a western suburb of Budapest, Hungary, February 17, 2019. Picture taken February 17, 2019. REUTERS/Tamas Kaszas

February 21, 2019

By Marton Dunai

BUDAKESZI, Hungary (Reuters) – Tucked away in a leafy hillside suburb west of Budapest, Julia Scharle lives the family-centered life Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long promoted with the slogan “three kids, three rooms, four wheels.”

Scharle, 28, and her husband share a new house with their two year-old daughter, and she’s expecting a second daughter in July.

The couple intend to have at least one more baby after that and, since Orban introduced extra incentives for four-child families, possibly two more.

“It’s still a question whether we plan for three children or four,” she said.

Low birth rates and people heading West have cut Hungary’s population by 1 million to 9.8 million within a generation, fuelling labor shortages and growing alarm among the country’s leaders.

Orban, one of the strongest opponents of immigration among Europe’s leaders, insists natural growth should reverse the population decline.

Last week he promised young Hungarians with large families a package of loan subsidies, tax cuts, grants and car allowances totaling up to 37.5 million forints ($135,000), with those with four or more children eligible for the biggest payouts.

“There are fewer and fewer children born in Europe. For the West, the answer is immigration,” Orban said in his state of the nation speech. “But we …need Hungarian children. To us immigration means surrender.”

Under his program, women who have at least four children will be exempt from income tax while grandmothers can take over maternity leave so their daughters can return to work and public child care centers will add significant capacity.

NOT SO FAST

Will that halt Hungary’s population decline? History suggests not.

Scharle agrees with Orban the solution is in bigger families rather than immigration. But she will not expand hers for money.

“I don’t think this should be the main motivation,” she said. “You need to want it, and if you do, this frees you from the financial doubts.”

The documented experiences of several countries suggest the effects of population growth-focused government policies on actual fertility rates tends to be limited.

They include Hungary, whose birth rate fell off a cliff in the late 1980s and has stayed low ever since despite attempts by several governments to raise it.

Average fertility rates of above 2.1 children per woman are generally required for population growth. Hungary’s stands at 1.5 and, one expert said, is unlikely to rise beyond 1.7 due to Orban’s package.

“Material benefits usually induce a baby boom when support is direct, like a lump sum in exchange for a baby,” said Balazs Kapitany, a demographer at the Central Statistics Office.

“The system outlined here is too complex, conditional, and deferred in time for a quick rise in births.”

The story is similar elsewhere. In Japan, among the quickest declining populations, a 2017 study by a unit of the Boston Consulting Group found that people just ignored government financial incentives to procreate more.

Schemes in Russia and Singapore also failed to significantly boost birth rates, studies show.

OTP Bank analysts said they expect Hungary’s effort to cost 0.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, while Raiffeisen Bank forecasts 0.1 percent.

The program has also sparked frustration among the jobless or less well off, for whom tax subsidies and loans are an irrelevance.

“This program does not motivate us at all,” said nurse Liza Ludmann-Vank, who is bringing up three children aged 4 to 12 on the eastern edge of Budapest. “Without lots of help from grandmas and babysitters raising four kids is impossible anyway.”

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: OANN

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Larry Hogan stokes renewed speculation of Trump primary bid, eyes NH visit

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Gov. Larry Hogan appears to have the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state on his mind, as the Maryland Republican increasingly flirts with a potential primary challenge against President Trump.

Fox News confirmed that Hogan’s camp has been involved in talks to appear at "Politics and Eggs," a well-known speaking series held at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College that is a must-stop for White House hopefuls.

HOGAN NOT RULING OUT PRIMARY CHALLENGE

A source with knowledge of the conversations said they’ve been underway for a few weeks but “no dates or timeframe has been discussed.”

Hogan won re-election last November to a second four-year term steering the reliably blue state of Maryland, while indirectly criticizing the president during his January inauguration. He has not sought to quiet the speculation about a possible primary bid.

“I would say I’m being approached from a lot of different people,” Hogan said in an interview earlier this week with CBS News. “And I guess the best way to put it is I haven’t thrown them out of my office.”

He also took aim at the president’s chances in 2020, saying “I’m not saying he couldn’t win, but he’s pretty weak in the general election.”

Yet Hogan acknowledged the extremely long odds against an intra-party challenge to a sitting president, highlighting that “nobody has successfully challenged a sitting president in the same party in the primary since 1884.”

The 62-year-old governor also told Politico this week “at this point in time, I don’t see any path to winning a Republican primary against this president, or anybody doing it. But things have a way of changing … I don’t know what the lay of the land is going to look like this summer, or in the fall.” In the same interview, Hogan criticized the Republican National Committee for allegedly protecting the president, saying: “I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve been involved in the Republican Party for most of my life. It’s unprecedented. And in my opinion it’s not the way we should be going about our politics.”

Hogan described conversations with GOP officials and donors lately about a possible run as “something of a feeding frenzy.”

The Maryland governor next month heads to Iowa, the state that votes first in the presidential caucus and primary calendar. Hogan will be there in his role as vice chairman of the National Governors Association, but he told Politico he would set aside some time for meetings before heading home.

Fox News also confirmed that Hogan met earlier this month with Bill Kristol, the conservative columnist and never-Trump leader who’s hoping to land a 2020 primary challenger to the president.

TRUMP FACES REVIVED PRIMARY CHATTER

If Hogan does speak at "Politics and Eggs," he would be the second potential GOP primary challenger to headline the forum this year. Last week, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld – a very vocal Trump critic – announced at the event that he was forming an exploratory committee as he moved toward launching a longshot GOP primary bid.

John Kasich, who last month finished serving two terms as Ohio governor, is another vocal Trump critic who’s mulling a primary challenge. Kasich, who finished second to Trump in New Hampshire’s 2016 GOP presidential primary, returned to the Granite State right after November’s midterm elections, sparking further speculation about his 2020 intentions.

Keeping the door open, he told Fox News at the time, “I really don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Indonesian presidential hopefuls vow energy self-sufficiency through palm

Indonesia's presidential candidate Joko Widodo shakes hands with his opponent Prabowo Subianto after the second debate between presidential candidates ahead of the next general election in Jakarta
Indonesia's presidential candidate Joko Widodo (L) shakes hands with his opponent Prabowo Subianto after the second debate between presidential candidates ahead of the next general election in Jakarta, Indonesia, February 17, 2019. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

February 18, 2019

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s two presidential candidates pledged on Sunday to achieve energy self-sufficiency by boosting the use of bioenergy, particularly fueled by palm oil, to cut costly oil imports by Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, has been pushing for all diesel fuel used in the country to contain biodiesel to boost palm consumption, slash fuel imports, and narrow a yawning current account gap.

In a televised election debate, President Joko Widodo said if he won a second term the government planned to implement a B100 program, referring to fuel made entirely from palm oil, after last year making it mandatory to use biodiesel containing 20 percent bio-content (B20).

“We hope 30 percent of total palm production will go to biofuel. The plan is clear, so we will not rely on imported oil,” Widodo said, adding that Indonesia’s crude palm oil production had reached 46 million tonnes a year.

Agreeing on the importance of bioenergy for self-sufficiency, his opponent Prabowo Subianto said if elected he would also “boost the use of palm oil, palm sugar, cassava and ethanol from sugar (cane)”.

The challenger did not elaborate on his bioenergy plan, but his campaign team has proposed using millions of hectares of degraded land to cultivate palm sugar to produce energy.

Widodo’s government has previously said it would offer incentives for developers of B100, which the net oil importer hopes can replace fuel imports within three years.

Indonesia’s state energy company PT Pertamina has signed an agreement with Italian oil company Eni to develop a refinery in Indonesia that would produce fuel completely derived from crude palm oil (CPO).

Oil imports have contributed to Indonesia’s widening current account deficit and the volatility of the rupiah currency. The government claimed that its biodiesel program would save billions of dollars in diesel fuel imports.

Although retired general Prabowo agreed with Widodo on several points during the debate, he said Indonesia’s “land and water, and the resources within” must be controlled by the government.

“We are of the view that the government must be present in detail, thoroughly, firmly and actively to correct inequalities in wealth,” he said.

The challenger said the proportion of small farmers’ holdings in the country’s palm plantations should also be larger. Smallholders currently account for roughly 40 percent of Indonesia’s 12 million hectares of palm oil plantations.

Farmers currently do not require larger plots of land, but instead, they need a program to boost yield from their current farm, Mansuetus Darto of Palm Farmers Union said.

He added that farmers wanted more clarity on Widodo’s B100 program and have asked to ensure that small holders play a greater role in the biodiesel supply chain.

“This is an important task for Jokowi on how to prevent big palm companies to be the only main suppliers and not farmers,” Darto said, referring to the president’s nickname.

Both candidates expressed support for greater control of Indonesian natural resources.

President Widodo highlighted Pertamina’s takeover of stewardship of major oil and gas blocks from foreign operators, and an agreement for a state company to purchase a 51 percent stake in the giant Grasberg copper mine from Freeport McMoRan.

(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy and Tabita Diela,; Additional reporting Bernadette Christina Munthe,; Editing by Ed Davies, Jan Harvey and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Source: OANN

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Students stage anti-Bouteflika protests in Algeria

Hundreds of students have staged protests in several university cities across Algeria to voice their opposition to ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term.

Answering calls posted on social networks, students skipped classes Tuesday to join the gatherings held on campuses.

The 81-year-old Bouteflika's announcement this month that he would seek a new term has unleashed a wave of protests in the country.

Students chanted slogans hostile to Bouteflika, who is expected to run again in April despite serious questions over his fitness for office after a 2013 stroke that left him largely infirm.

At the Benaknoun university in Algiers, students blocked traffic and installed a coffin-shaped board in the middle of the road on top of which they placed an Algerian flag and a picture of Bouteflika.

Source: Fox News World

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Study finds Germans increasingly hostile to asylum-seekers

A study has found that Germans are increasingly hostile toward asylum-seekers, whereas prejudices toward other minorities such as homeless or gay people have declined.

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which commissioned the survey, said Thursday that 54.1% of respondents expressed negative opinions about asylum-seekers, up from 49.5% in 2016 and 44% in 2014.

Germany saw a significant increase in migrant arrivals in 2016, with almost 746,000 people seeking asylum that year. Numbers have since declined again, with about 186,000 asylum requests last year.

The representative telephone survey, which is conducted every two years, involved 1,890 respondents and took place between September and February.

The study also examined for the first time how receptive Germans are to conspiracy theories. It found about that 46% of respondents believed secret organizations influence political decision-making.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump security adviser Bolton unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba

National Security Advisor Bolton listens as U.S. President Trump speaks while meeting with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg at White House in Washington
FILE PHOTO: National Security Advisor John Bolton adjusts his glasses as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

April 17, 2019

MIAMI (Reuters) – U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday the United States is adding five names linked to Cuba’s military and intelligence services to its sanctions blacklist, including the Cuban military-owned airline Aerogaviota.

Bolton, in a speech to veterans of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, also said the United States would further restrict non-family travel to Cuba in a bid to reduce “veiled tourism” that provides funds to Havana’s security sector.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED FOR CASH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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