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Royal astrologer casts Thai king’s horoscope ahead of coronation

Lertviroj Kowattana, permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, dressed in a traditional costume, greets Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn during the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok
FILE PHOTO: Lertviroj Kowattana, permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, dressed in a traditional costume, greets Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn during the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok, Thailand, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

April 23, 2019

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s royal astrologer cast King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s horoscope on Tuesday in an important ritual to prepare for his elaborate coronation ceremonies next week.

Saffron-clad Buddhist monks chanted as the horoscope for the king’s reign was cast on a golden plaque.

The three-hour ceremony included the inscription of the king’s name and new royal title on another golden plaque, and the carving of the king’s official seal.

Thai culture is steeped in astrology and other forms of divination, and many Thais go to fortune-tellers for everything from guidance on career and love to setting dates for important life events like weddings and business ventures.

Astrology in the royal court, involving rigid rituals and precise calculations, is a world away from commoners’ divinations.

Court astrologers traditionally make predictions about the future at every important transition in the nation’s history.

Court astrologer Chatchai Pinngern cast the horoscope of King Maha Vajiralongkorn in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is attached to the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Neither the horoscope, which notes planetary alignments based on precise details around a person’s birth, nor its interpretation were made public.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 66, was not present for the ceremony but sent a royal representative.

The ceremony also saw the inscription of the king’s new name and title on another golden plate, and an engraving of his royal seal which is an auspicious symbol that is said to show the sovereignty and the majesty of the king.

The royal horoscope and the other two items will play essential roles in Vajiralongkorn’s main coronation events on May 4, as they will be presented to the king by Thailand’s chief of Brahmins, along with other royal regalia.

The coronation ceremonies from May 4 to 6 will be the first the country has seen since Vajiralongkorn’s father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned on May 5, 1950.

King Bhumibol reigned for seven decades before he died in October 2016 at age 88.

(Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat; editing by Kay Johnson and Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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South Africa to loan $5 billion to ailing state power firm

South Africa's minister of finance says that the government will loan the troubled state power company, Eskom, 69 billion rand ($4.9 billion) to help it service its debts.

Delivering the 2019 budget to parliament, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the loan would help Eskom provide a stable power supply to the country.

South Africa, Africa's most industrialized country, has experienced several power cuts in recent weeks because Eskom has not been able to generate adequate electricity. Eskom's debt is currently estimated at 419 billion ($30 billion) and has hampered its efforts to supply electricity.

Eskom's difficulties are widely viewed by economists as a major threat to South Africa's economy, which has experienced sluggish growth for the past five years.

Source: Fox News World

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Spring training roundup: Cubs win behind Hamels’ arm, bat

MLB: Spring Training-Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs
Mar 25, 2019; Mesa, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Cole Hamels (35) bats against the Boston Red Sox during the fourth inning at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

March 26, 2019

Left-hander Cole Hamels allowed one run on three hits in five innings and helped his own cause with a solo homer as the Chicago Cubs beat the visiting Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Monday in Mesa, Ariz.

Hamels, who had two strikeouts, didn’t earn the win, but he left with a 2-1 lead after five innings. David Bote’s solo homer in the seventh inning proved to be the difference.

Andrew Benintendi got the only run off Hamels with a solo homer in the third, his second of the spring. Rick Porcello went four innings for Boston, allowing two runs and four hits while striking out three.

Astros 12, Pirates 9

Four different players homered for Houston in a victory over visiting Pittsburgh back in the home confines of Minute Maid Park. Nick Tanielu’s two-run shot broke a tie in the sixth inning and proved to be the difference for the Astros. Francisco Cervelli went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer for the Pirates.

Nationals 5, Yankees 3

Anthony Rendon and Matt Adams each homered as Washington beat visiting New York back home at Nationals Park, giving Rendon five and Adams six this spring. Troy Tulowitzki hit his fourth homer for the Yankees.

Mets 9, Orioles 7

Dominic Smith’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth lifted New York over Baltimore in Sarasota, Fla. Dwight Smith went yard twice for the Orioles.

Phillies 3, Rays 2

Malvin Matos’ walk-off homer carried Philadelphia over Tampa Bay in Clearwater, Fla. Maikel Franco drove in the Phillies’ other runs with a two-run shot, while Kevin Kiermaier accounted for both of the Rays’ runs with one of his own.

Brewers 10, Blue Jays 5

Travis Shaw went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer as visiting Milwaukee beat Toronto at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Billy McKinney had two hits for the Blue Jays.

Braves 8, Reds 5

Atlanta jumped on Cincinnati right-hander Tanner Roark for five runs in 1 2/3 innings en route to a win over Cincinnati back home at SunTrust Park. Eugenio Suarez and Derek Dietrich homered for the Reds.

Indians 10, Rangers 1

Rookie shortstop Eric Stamets hit a grand slam in the fourth inning as Cleveland cruised past Texas in Arlington. Ronald Guzman hit his fifth homer of the spring for the Rangers.

White Sox 6, Diamondbacks 3

Daniel Palka’s 440-foot homer in the seventh inning proved to be the difference for Chicago in a win over Arizona in Phoenix. John Ryan Murphy and Jake Lamb each went long for the Diamondbacks.

Padres 8, Mariners 0

Visiting San Diego hit two homers in a six-run first inning and cruised to victory over Seattle at newly renamed T-Mobile Park. Ryon Healy had one of two Mariners hits, with Jake Fraley adding the other in the ninth inning.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Mom Ensnared in College Admissions Scam Hosted Gillibrand Fundraiser

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Palestinian official: Israel kill unarmed man in West Bank

The governor of the West Bank city of Bethlehem says Israeli soldiers have shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian man near the city.

Kamil Hamid said on Thursday that Israeli troops in the adjacent village of al-Khader fired at a car and wounded the driver the previous night. He says Ahmad Manasra was driving behind him and got out of his vehicle to help the wounded man. As he was returning to his car, Hamid says the Israeli soldiers shot and killed Manasra.

The Israeli military says a soldier stationed at a military post near Bethlehem identified rocks being thrown at Israeli vehicles. In response, he fired his weapon. The military says it is investigating the incident, which comes amid heightened tensions in the West Bank.

Source: Fox News World

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Conversations with Kamala


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

On the roster: Conversations with Kamala - Buttigieg to join Mr. Sunday for Fox News town hall - Confusion clouds Biden’s 2020 campaign launch - Hogan begins 16 state visit in N.H. Tuesday - Almost paradise

CONVERSATIONS WITH KAMALA
We need to have a conversation about Kamala Harris.

Since her auspicious launch in late January, she has had a series of disappointments, most of which center on her inability to answer straightforward questions. 

In her segment of CNN’s town-hall-a-palooza Monday night, Harris was asked about the position of Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders that the terrorists who killed three and injured more than 250 at the 2013 Boston Marathon should be allowed to vote from prison.

Now, this isn’t a tough one for Sanders. His home state of Vermont allows incarcerated felons to vote, even those convicted of the most serious crimes. Plus, his supporters will love him unconditionally. Sanders runs second in the new Monmouth University national poll out today with 20 percent compared to probably-maybe-definitely-Wednesday-wait-Thursday-somewhere-likely candidate Joe Biden who has the backing of 27 percent of respondents.

Sanders has so far demonstrated no ability to grow his share of the Democratic vote, but neither has he lost any ground. The similarities between Sanders’ and Donald Trump’s own 2016 efforts are many, but the most significant consequence is that like Trump, Sanders has very stable support. It’s hard to see him ever getting a majority of the Democratic vote, but it’s also hard to see him dropping much below his current numbers. 

While Sanders’ views may not be that consequential for him, they will be for the other contenders. Harris walked right off a cliff Monday night following the pied piper of Vermont. 

“I think we should have that conversation,” Harris said when pressed on her vague answer about the general need for restorative justice. Even these monsters who murdered innocents? What does that conversation really look like? 

To give Harris the benefit of the doubt we’re willing to allow that she genuinely is unsure about the matter, strange as that may sound. But coming as it did in the same event when she also threw herself behind Elizabeth Warren’s call for the immediate impeachment of the president we start to get the strong impression that Harris is too eager to tell people what they want to hear. 

South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg showed her up later on when the same question was put to him. “No,” he said. “I do believe that when you are, when you have served your sentence, then part of being restored to society is that you are part of the political life of this nation again and one of the things that needs to be restored is your right to vote.”

Boom.

There’s a reason Harris finds herself tied with Buttigieg in third place in today’s Monmouth poll. Buttigieg is exceeding expectations. She is missing them. 

That’s not to say that there won’t be another moment for Harris, but when that comes she had better have a more complete understanding of the difference between leadership and popularity.

THE RULEBOOK: PENNY PINCHERS
“The money saved from one object may be usefully applied to another, and there will be so much the less to be drawn from the pockets of the people.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 13

TIME OUT: THE GLORY DAYS
Atlantic:Bap. That’s how Damon Runyon, reporting on Game 1 of the 1923 World Series, Giants versus Yankees, for the New York American, records the sound of Casey Stengel connecting with a pitch from ‘Bullet JoeBush. Bat meets ball, the essential atomic encounter—and Runyon puts the sound of it, the briefest, most prodigious syllable, right in the center of his column. Everything leads to it, everything spins out of it. Bap! Writers, those nonjocks, know this moment too. … The surprise and delight of The Great American Sports Page, John Schulian’s selections from a century’s worth of newspaper columns about baseball, boxing, football, gymnastics, and (in one case) swimming the English Channel, is how often it happens—how often the writers connect, how often the prose approaches the condition of flat-out poetry. … That stuff is largely gone now. …Sports commentary in 2019 is forensic, polyphonic, multiplatformed.”

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: down 0.8 points 
[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.]

BUTTIGIEG TO JOIN MR. SUNDAY FOR FOX NEWS TOWN HALL
Politico: “Fox News will host a town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the network announced Tuesday, making him the third Democrat to sit down with the network at length. Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace will moderate the town hall, which is set for May 19 and will be held in Claremont, N.H. Fox was slow to jump into the 2020 town hall game, hosting its first 2020 town hall earlier this month after ceding much of that territory to its cable rivals CNN and MSNBC, but has rolled out events with three Democratic candidates in the last three weeks. … Buttigieg’s town hall with Wallace will be Wallace’s first of the 2020 cycle. Wallace in 2016 became the first network personality to moderate a general election presidential debate, overseeing the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.”

CONFUSION CLOUDS BIDEN’S 2020 CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
Fox News: “When, where and how Joe Biden announces his long-awaited 2020 presidential bid appears to be up in the air – still. While initial indications pointed to a Wednesday launch, the timing remains in flux, as does the location. At this stage, the only key element that seems to have crystallized is the theme for the campaign rollout. ‘The theme for the announcement is going to be ‘the battle for the soul of America,’’ said a source close to Biden’s inner circle… [Biden] is expected to open … with a message that describes the current climate in the nation and takes on Republican President Trump. … But other details surrounding the launch remain fluid, including where the former vice president goes in the hours and initial days after the declaration of candidacy. A source told Fox News … on Monday evening that plans were in flux and that Thursday appeared to be more likely for Biden’s announcement.”

Will fundraising be his biggest challenge - NYT: “Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is going to have to raise money like he’s never raised money before. …[O]ne of the anxiety-inducing questions hanging over his team of advisers is just how much of former President Barack Obama’s record-setting financial operation Mr. Biden will inherit now that he is setting off on his own for the first time in a decade. It is an urgent task, especially for a politician not previously known as a prolific fund-raiser. His leading rival in the polls, Senator Bernie Sanders, has amassed $26.6 million across his various political committees, including more than $10 million left over from his 2016 presidential run and 2018 re-election in Vermont. Mr. Biden begins at $0, and it would take his raising more than $100,000 every day until Christmas just to match what Mr. Sanders had banked at the start of April.”

Or will it be himself? - Politico: “…Biden is carrying with him nearly a half a century in the major leagues of American politics. When Pete Buttigieg was born, Biden was had been a U.S. senator for almost nine years. He has cast votes on conflicts in Vietnam, Nicaragua, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the confirmation of 12 Supreme Court justices and the impeachment of a president. He’s served in office when opinions on crime, abortion, race and sexuality have changed root and branch. Perhaps Biden’s biggest challenge—apart from his age itself—will be to persuade Democratic voters not to view his past through the prism of the present. It would likelier be a lot easier for Biden if he were a Republican. One of the signal features of the 2016 campaign was the capacity of GOP voters to sweep aside Donald Trump’s past, both his words and his deeds.”

HOGAN BEGINS 16 STATE VISIT IN N.H. TUESDAY
 WaPo: “Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday he is seriously considering a primary challenge to President Trump, adding that the only reason Trump is not facing obstruction charges is that aides thwarted the president. Hogan criticized fellow Republicans in Congress and state houses across the country for not speaking out in the wake of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report, which he called ‘very disturbing’ and ‘unsavory.’ ‘It’s because they’re afraid,’ Hogan told reporters. ‘There’s no profiles in courage here. They’re afraid of being primaried. They’re afraid of being tweeted about.’ … The governor said he’s been approached ‘by a lot of people and a growing number of people’ since his January inauguration about getting into the race, and he plans to visit 16 states in the next few months as he continues to ponder a run. … Tuesday’s comments, made at a must-stop event for presidential candidates, mark the governor’s most decisive remarks about whether he would challenge Trump.”

HOUSE DEMS: NO IMMEDIATE PLANS FOR IMPEACHMENT
WaPo: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers Monday that there are no plans to immediately open impeachment proceedings against President Trump, rejecting calls from several Democrats to initiate steps to try to oust the president. In a rare Monday night conference call, the California Democrat stressed that the near-term strategy in the wake of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report is to focus on investigating the president and seeing where the inquiries lead. Members of Pelosi’s leadership team reaffirmed her cautious approach, according to four officials on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. ‘We have to save our democracy. This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. It’s about saving our democracy,’ Pelosi said. But Pelosi’s message did not go over well with several Democrats, who argued that Congress has a duty to hold Trump to account with impeachment despite the political blowback Pelosi has long feared.”

Harris joins Warren’s call for impeachment - Fox News: “Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif, is the latest presidential candidate to join the call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment following the release of the Mueller Report. During a televised town hall on Monday night, Harvard University student Karla Alvarado asked Harris if congressional Democrats should ‘reconsider’ their position on impeachment, something top leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, has repeatedly dismissed. Harris began by declaring that it’s ‘very clear’ that there is ‘a lot of good evidence’ in the Mueller Report that points to obstruction of justice. And although she still intends on beating Trump in the 2020 election, she expressed that Congress should proceed with impeachment.”

SUPCO HEARS CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION TUESDAY
NPR: “The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a legal battle with lasting implications that could dramatically affect political representation and federal funding over the next decade. The justices are weighing whether to allow the Trump administration to add a question about U.S. citizenship status to forms for the upcoming 2020 census. In multiple lawsuits brought by dozens of states, cities and other groups, three federal judges at U.S. district courts have issued rulings blocking the administration's plans for the question. It asks, ‘Is this person a citizen of the United States?’ All three judges — in New York, California and Maryland — ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to include the question violated procedures for adding new census questions under administrative law.”

Judge Napolitano on census - Fox News: “Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Tuesday that as it stands, the only information that must be disclosed for the census is the total number of people who live in a residence. Napolitano appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ on the same day the Supreme Court was to hear arguments over whether the 2020 census can include a question about citizenship, ensuring a quick review of a lower court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from doing that. ‘The government is looking to acquire information about where people live and where people who are not authorized to be here live because that has a profound effect on federal aid to cities and has a profound effect on members of Congress,’ said Napolitano.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
McConnell vows to be ‘grim reaper’ of socialist Dem proposals - Fox News

Pergram: Why House Dem leaders can't wreck the freshmen's ‘homecoming float’ - Fox News

Trump to meet with Queen Elizabeth II during June state visit - USA Today

John Cornyn to face Air Force vet MJ Hegar in 2020 Texas Senate race - Fox News

AUDIBLE: ‘PLEASE CLAP’ 2020 EDITION
“It’s when you guys are supposed to cheer, okay?” – Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during a CNN town hall on Monday night.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“I agree with your points as to why people are not responding to surveys but you miss the main point: Robo-calls.  I don’t answer a call unless I know who is calling and therefore miss any survey that calls. If those in charge would stop all the needless interruption of Robo-calls they would get more response to their surveys. Those that do so by mail would get more response if they were not asking for money at the end of each survey.” – Tom Hamilton, New Albany, Miss.

[Ed. note: You just unintentionally explained a substantial part of our polling requirements, Mr. Hamilton! Robo-calls to cell phones are forbidden by the FCC and federal law. The ones you are getting now are operating outside of the law and using sophisticated techniques to evade detection – like cloning a number in your area code to increase the chances that you will pick up. That’s why we don’t use pollsters who use robo-calls, like Rasmussen. They can’t call cell phones and have to rely on landlines plus their own system of online surveys to try to compensate for the missing cell phone users. Only live callers can do the job right, and the live callers have to be competent and well-trained for the work. That’s why we tend to avoid partisan polls since the interviewers may have motives beyond just getting honest opinions. The scourge of unwanted robo-calls will be with us as long as we have telephones, but there are new efforts underway for a more intense crackdown on those who are still breaking the rules. We will keep you posted.]     

“I just read your response about Congress spending more time in DC and had to laugh. We have a saying in Texas where our legislature is in session for 140 days every two years: It would be better if they were in session for 2 days every 140 years.” – Pat Conroy, West Lake Hills, Texas

[Ed. note: Zing!]

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

ALMOST PARADISE
AP: “A man who says he fled an Austrian prison over a decade ago has turned himself in to police in Salzburg, telling them he was fed up with living in Spain's Canary Islands. Police said the 64-year-old, carrying two suitcases, went to police at Salzburg's railway station Saturday night and told them he was a fugitive prisoner who had just arrived from Munich Airport. They said in a statement Monday that he told officers he had spent the past 10 ½ years on Tenerife, a popular vacation island, and wanted to return home because ‘Tenerife is not as nice as it used to be and he had lived there long enough.’ Police verified that he had fled a prison in eastern Austria. He was taken to a Salzburg jail.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“There is excellence, and there is greatness — cosmic, transcendent, Einsteinian. We know it when we see it, we think. But how to measure it?” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing for Time magazine on July 1, 2002.

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

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The Latest: Police say man, 23, claimed to be missing boy

The Latest on efforts to confirm the identity of a person who told police he is Timmothy Pitzen, an Illinois boy who has been missing since 2011 (all times local):

5:55 p.m.

Authorities say the person who claimed to be a long-missing Illinois boy is actually a 23-year-old Ohio man.

Newport, Kentucky, police chief Tom Collins told ABC News that the person is Brian Rini of Medina in northeast Ohio.

State prison records show a man by that name was released from a state prison on March 7, after serving time for burglary and vandalism charges.

A man by that name also pleaded guilty to burglary charges in January 2018 and passing bad checks in December 2015, according to Medina County Court records. The same man had multiple citations in Medina Municipal Court, including driving without a valid license, disorderly conduct and theft.

___

4:45 p.m.

Authorities have rejected a teenager's claim that he is an Illinois boy who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.

The FBI says DNA testing ruled out the teenager as being Timmothy Pitzen, missing from Aurora, Illinois. Police say the story of the teenager found wandering streets in Newport, Kentucky, on Wednesday didn't check out.

The teenager told police that he was Timmothy and that he had escaped two kidnappers.

Authorities didn't immediately release the teenager's true identity or other information.

Timmothy Pitzen disappeared around the time his mother killed herself after leaving a note that her 6-year-old son was fine but that no one would ever find him.

Police and the boy's family say there have been other false sightings over the years.

___

2:25 p.m.

The former principal at Timmothy Pitzen's elementary school says his thoughts have been with the boy's family since a teenager told police in Kentucky he was Timmothy, who disappeared in 2011.

As authorities tried Thursday to confirm the teen's identity, Nick Baughman said he hopes the results provide the Pitzen family with "peace and closure and they would heal." The teen was found Wednesday in Newport, near Cincinnati.

Baughman now is an administrator at another Illinois school district. He was Greenman Elementary principal in Aurora, Illinois, when Amy Fry-Pitzen removed her 6-year-old son early from school.

Fry-Pitzen later was found dead at a hotel in Illinois in a suicide. She left a note that said Timmothy was with others who would love and care for him.

Baughman says "it was just one of those moments where you maintain hope and be supportive and say a lot of prayers."

___

12 p.m.

Police in the Illinois hometown of a boy missing since 2011 say they can't yet confirm that he is in fact a teenager found wandering in Kentucky.

The Aurora police department says they are assisting an FBI investigation and hope to have something more definitive later Thursday.

Authorities are trying to confirm the identity of a 14-year-old boy who told police in Newport, Kentucky, that he escaped two kidnappers in the Cincinnati area and ran across a bridge. He said his name is Timmothy Pitzen.

In 2011, Timmothy Pitzen's mother killed herself, leaving a note saying her son was fine but that no one would ever find him. Timmothy was 6 years old.

Aurora police sent two detectives to check out the teenager's story. Timmothy's grandmother and an aunt said that police were using DNA testing.

___

10:50 a.m.

The grandmother of an Illinois boy missing since 2011 says she's trying not to get her hopes up after hearing that he might be alive.

Speaking from her home in northern Illinois, Alana Anderson says "there have been so many tips and sightings and what not and you try not to panic or be overly excited."

Authorities are trying to confirm the identity of a 14-year-old boy who told police in Newport, Kentucky, that he escaped two kidnappers in the Cincinnati area and ran across a bridge. He said his name is Timmothy Pitzen.

In 2011, then-6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen's mother killed herself, leaving a note saying her son was fine but that no one would ever find him.

Anderson says her daughter was having problems with her fourth marriage and had battled depression for years.

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8:30 a.m.

Authorities are trying to confirm the identity of a teenager who told police he is an Illinois boy missing since 2011.

A 14-year-old boy told police in Newport, Kentucky, on Wednesday that he escaped two kidnappers in the Cincinnati area and ran across a bridge. He said his name was Timmothy Pitzen.

In 2011, then-6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen's mother picked him up at school in Illinois, took him to the zoo and a water park, and later killed herself at a hotel, leaving a note saying her son was fine but that no one would ever find him.

Police from Aurora, Illinois, sent two detectives to the Cincinnati area, where the FBI and local police are investigating. The boy was taken to a hospital, but no information was released.

Source: Fox News National

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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)

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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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

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