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White House defends Trump’s Omar 9/11 tweet; Bernie Sanders town hall on Fox News tonight

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Developing now, Monday, April 15, 2019

REP. OMAR BLAMES TRUMP TWEET FOR DEATH THREATS: Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., says she's received an influx of death threats since President Trump tweeted a video on Driday that combined comments from the congresswoman — which critics said were dismissive of the Sept. 11 attacks — with footage from Ground Zero ... "I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life—many directly referencing or replying to the President's video," Omar tweeted in a statement on Sunday night. Omar said that hate crimes around the world by right-wing extremists and whte nationalists are on the rise around the world and accused Trump of encouraging acts of hate.

Omar's comments came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she had taken steps to ensure the freshman congresswoman's safety and called on the president to take the tweet down. The White House defended Trump, saying the president had a duty to highlight Omar’s history of comments that others have found offensive, blamed Democrats for not holding the congresswoman accountable for her alleged anti-Semitic comments and that he wished no “ill will” upon the first-term lawmaker.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP.

BERNIE SANDERS TOWN HALL ON FOX NEWS TONIGHT: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is getting ready to make his pitch for president in front of a large audience at Fox News' town hall tonight ... Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will moderate the hour-long event. It will be the Vermont senator's first appearance on Fox News Channel since he agreed to be a guest on "Special Report" in December 2018. He also participated in Fox News Channel's Democratic town hall back in 2016 alongside his then-competitor Hillary Clinton. Sanders, who raised $18 million in the first six weeks of his campaign, is considered a front-runner among a crowded field of 2020 presidential hopefuls. His town hall on Fox comes the same day he has promised to release his tax records.

TRUMP'S $30M CAMPAIGN WAR CHEST: President Trump's re-election campaign raised $30.3 million in the first quarter of this year, far pacing the leading fundraisers among the Democrats, Fox News confirmed Sunday ... The Trump campaign said nearly 99 percent of its donations were of $200 or less, with an average donation of $34.26. In all, the campaign had $40.8 million cash on hand, an unprecedented war chest for an incumbent president this early in the campaign.

Among Trump's would-be Democratic challengers, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was leading the money race after taking in $18.2 million in the first quarter of this year. He was followed by California Sen. Kamala Harris, with $12 million. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke ($9.4 million), South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg ($7 million) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ($6 million) rounded out the top five fundraisers among Democrats.

ICYMI: LINDSEY GRAHAM'S PLAN TO COMBAT THE MIGRATION CRISIS: Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that he is currently working on a drastic overhaul of the United States’ asylum laws in an effort to deal with the ongoing migration crisis at the country’s southern border with Mexico ... While Graham, R-S.C., agreed with President Trump’s call for more U.S. troops on the border and the need for a physical barrier, he argued on "Sunday Morning Futures" that the only way to make real progress in combating the flow of migrants over the southern border is to change laws regarding how and when the U.S. grants asylum. (Click on the video above to watch the interview.)

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed to "Fox News Sunday" that President Trump's prospective plan to send illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is undergoing a "complete and thorough review."

Tiger Woods reacts as he wins the Masters golf tournament Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Tiger Woods reacts as he wins the Masters golf tournament Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

EYE OF THE TIGER: Tiger Woods is basking in the glory of his fifth -- and perhaps most improbable and emotional -- major title victory after winning the Masters on Sunday ... Woods' comeback has come full-circle. Only two years ago at Augusta National, Woods needed a nerve block just to hobble upstairs to the Champions Dinner, unsure he would ever play another round of golf. He had a fourth back surgery with hopes of simply playing with his two children. Now, at age 43, he is a Masters champion again, his first green jacket since 2005 and his first major since the 2008 U.S. Open.

In addition to Woods' fifth Masters championship and 15th major title (trailing only the great Jack Nicklaus in both categories), Sunday marked his 81st victory on the PGA Tour, one away from the career record held by Sam Snead. Perhaps most gratifying for Woods is that his two children, ages 10 and 11, got to see him win a championship live and not just relive his past glory on YouTube.


THE SOUNDBITE

'A DISGUSTING OVERREACH' - "This is all about political partisanship. This is a dangerous, dangerous road and frankly, Chris, I don't think Congress, particularly not this group of congressmen and women, are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump's taxes will be. My guess is most of them don't do their own taxes and I certainly don't trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything. "– Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, on "Fox News Sunday," on Democrats pushing for the release of President Trump's tax records. (Click the image above to watch the full video.)

TODAY'S MUST-READS
Michael Goodwin: As Trump soars higher, Dems reach their lowest point yet.
Fordham University senior, 22, dies after she fell from campus bell tower.
Death toll from tornadoes, severe storms in South rises to eight.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Charlie Kirk: Why China is America's greatest enemy.
Russia’s Rusal makes $200 million Kentucky aluminum investment.
What the end of 'Game of Thrones' means for HBO's future.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow; Ashley Bratcher, star of the movie, "Unplanned."

Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: Special guests include: Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus.

On Fox Business:

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Stephen Moore, prospective Trump nominee to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

After the Bell, 4 p.m. ET: Connell McShane is live in Bethlehem, Pa. to preview Fox News' Town Hall with Bernie Sanders.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: "POTUS Proposes A New Way to House Migrants" - Fox News Radio's Jeff Paul has the latest of President Trump's mulling a plan to sending migrants to sanctuary cities. Plus, do you have a hard time seeing eye-to-eye with someone that is on the other side of the aisle? Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers discuss the inspiration behind their new book, "I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening)." Plus, commentary by Christian Whiton, senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. on Julian Assange's arrest, the Mueller report, and the latest from Venezuela; Michael Goodwin, New York Post columnist, on why President Trump is soaring while Democrats are reaching new lows and the latest in the 2020 presidential race. Sports Illustrated writer and Tiger Woods biographer Jeff Benedict on Woods' Masters tournament victory. Brian Brenberg, executive vice president and chair of the Program in Business and Finance at The King’s College, on Tax Day and the state of the economy.

Benson & Harf, 6 p.m. ET: House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., will sit down with Guy Benson, live from New Orleans.

#TheFlashback
2013: Two bombs made from pressure cookers explode at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260.
1947: Jackie Robinson, baseball's first black major league player, makes his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field..
1865: President Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; Andrew Johnson becomes the nation's 17th president.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Tuesday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Gaza animals find new home following deaths at zoo

Truck carrying crates containing animals leaves Gaza after the animals were taken out of a Gaza zoo by FOUR PAWS organization, at Israeli Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip
A truck carrying crates containing animals leaves Gaza after the animals were taken out of a Gaza zoo by FOUR PAWS organization, at Israeli Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip April 7, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

April 7, 2019

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Five lions, five monkeys, four ostriches, three peacocks, two wolves and a hyena departed Gaza for Jordan on Sunday, after being rescued from a Gaza zoo where many animals died of starvation and lack of care.

The animal welfare group Four Paws international carried out the relocation, which also included dogs, cats, foxes, porcupines and 10 squirrels.

Fathy Jomaa, owner of the zoo in Rafah, southern Gaza, blamed bad economic conditions and a decade of Israeli-led blockade on the narrow coastal enclave for leaving him unable to properly feed and care for his animals.

Jomaa had come under intense criticism by animal care groups after a series of recent deaths and mishaps.

Four lion cubs died from cold during a storm in January. A monkey killed another, and a porcupine died more recently of unknown causes, said the owner. Earlier this year he de-clawed two young lions so that zoo visitors could safely pose for selfies with them.

Now only the birds remain at the site. They were left behind by Four Paws.

Four Paws veterinarian Amir Khalil, who led the rescue mission, said cages at the Gaza zoo had become too small to house the animals and their offspring. He said the animals would go to a sanctuary in Jordan.

“It is a tough decision, I feel like I am losing my family. I lived with some of those animals for 20 years,” Jomaa told Reuters, saying that economic hardship left him with no choice. “I hope they find a better place to live,” he said.

The head of the Land Crossings Authority at Israel’s Ministry of Defense, Shlomo Saban, said in a statement they “used every means at our disposal to help transfer the animals as quickly as possible”.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza for security reasons after the Islamist group Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. The World Bank says the blockade has reduced the territory, home to 2 million Palestinians, to a state of economic collapse.

(Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: OANN

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Venezuelans at Brazil border live on bus going nowhere

Belki Contreras walks around an abandoned bus at night in the border city of Pacaraima
Belki Contreras walks around an abandoned bus at night in the border city of Pacaraima, Brazil April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

April 15, 2019

By Anthony Boadle

PACARAIMA, Brazil (Reuters) – Ten destitute Venezuelan migrants who fled their country’s crisis did not get far when they crossed into Brazil: they have been living for three months on an abandoned bus just across the border.

They sleep on cardboard, except for the lucky one who gets the hammock. They cook on a wood fire just outside the door of the motor-less 1983 Mercedes Benz bus.

Two children go to the local school every morning.

The penniless migrants work at odd jobs for spare change, loading the cars and pickups of Venezuelans who cross over to buy food and goods in short supply back home.

“We’ve been living in this bus for three months,” says Hildemaro Ortiz, 24, from Punta de Mata in eastern Venezuela, who hopes to move to a bigger Brazilian city once his son makes it across the border.

Ortiz and his bus-mates are part of a flood of Venezuelans pouring into the rest of Latin America, often driven by hunger and desperate to escape an economy in free-fall as food shortages and blackouts rattle their oil-rich nation.

Tens of thousands of migrants have fled the political and economic upheaval in Venezuela through Pacaraima, the only road crossing to Brazil, creating tension at the border. About 3.7 million people have left Venezuela in recent years, mostly via its western neighbor Colombia, according to the World Bank.

Ixora Sanguino, 27, sweeps the floor of the bus and folds the blankets.

“I never thought I would ever live in a bus, and least of all in another country like this,” said the mother of three who had to leave her children behind in Ciudad Bolivar.

“There is nothing in Venezuela right now,” she said.

When she first crossed the border, Sanguino slept in the street. The bus is an improvement, sheltered from tropical rain. Now she is trying to gather enough money for a bus ticket to Boa Vista, the nearest Brazilian state capital, to find work and send cash to her hungry family back home.

The occupants of the rusty metal structure, once an express bus, dream of returning to their homeland one day when things improve there, but for now survival is a daily struggle.

Rice cooks in a pot held over the fire on an improvised grill. Usually they eat rice and bones, or rice and chicken when there is enough money between them to buy meat, she said.

A Spanish priest provides a coffee and bread roll breakfast for 350 Venezuelans daily at his mission house, but migrants must arrive before 6 a.m. to get a place, she said.

The bus offers some protection from mosquitoes and the cold of night, Ortiz said. When the bugs get bad, he starts a cardboard fire to smoke them out.

He is impatient to move to bustling cities to the south.

“If only this bus had an engine, we would have been on our way to Manaus by now,” he said.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Additional reporting by Pilar Olivares and Leonardo Benasatto; Editing by Brad Haynes and Susan Thomas)

Source: OANN

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New World Bank boss vows to keep climate goals, evolve China relationship

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump introduces the U.S. candidate in election for the next President of the World Bank David Malpass at the White House in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump introduces the U.S. candidate in election for the next President of the World Bank David Malpass at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo

April 10, 2019

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday he would not alter the lender’s commitment to fight climate change, but pledged to step up its anti-poverty mission and to evolve the bank’s relationship with China.

Malpass, who started at the Bank on Tuesday, was nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Some development professionals feared that he would pursue Trump’s “America First” agenda at the bank by resuming financing for coal power projects and pressuring China.

But Malpass told reporters that he will pursue the World Bank’s climate change goals, including its previous decision to withdraw from coal power funding. He called climate change a “key problem” facing many of the world’s developing countries.

“The board and the governors have established a policy on that. I don’t expect a change in that policy,” Malpass said,

A long-time finance executive, economist and government development official, Malpass most recently served as the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs. He helped negotiate a $13 billion capital increase for the World Bank last year.

That refunding included requirements that the bank shift lending away from middle-income countries including China toward lower-income countries.

Malpass at the time was highly critical of China’s continued borrowing from the World Bank and of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. But he said on Tuesday that new lending to Chinese projects was already declining and the relationship would shift toward one of increased contributions to the bank and sharing of expertise.

“That means an evolution where they are much less of a borrower, and they have more to offer in terms of their participation in capital increases, their participation in IDA, where China has been ramping up its contributions,” he said, referring to the International Development Association, the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries.

He said he would work with China to boost the standards of its development projects with more debt transparency and open procurement standards.

His view on China contrasted those of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who told lawmakers that Malpass’ presence at the World Bank would help the United States compete with China’s Belt and Road initiative. That program entails hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure development and investment by China in about 65 countries with an emphasis on transportation routes.

Asked at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday what the United States could do to “push back” on China’s growing presence in international development, Mnuchin replied, “I think the single best thing is that David Malpass, who was my undersecretary, is now head of the World Bank.”

The World Bank, combined with a new U.S. development agency created by Congress last year, “can be a serious competitor to their Belt and Road,” Mnuchin added.

The United States remains the World Bank’s largest shareholder, and the Treasury oversees the U.S. interests at the institution.

Malpass said he saw no need for a restructuring of the World Bank’s operations, but he would seek to make lending more effective at lifting people out of poverty.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

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Indians put starter Clevinger on injured list

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Indians
Apr 7, 2019; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Mike Clevinger (52) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

April 9, 2019

The Cleveland Indians placed right-handed starter Mike Clevinger on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with a strain in his upper back, the club announced.

The Indians called up right-hander Nick Wittgren from Triple-A Columbus.

Clevinger (1-0) has not allowed a run in two starts this season while striking out 22 in 12 innings of work. However, he left Sunday’s start after just five innings with tightness. The team is calling it a right upper back/Teres major muscle strain.

Wittgren, 27, was acquired from the Miami Marlins on Feb. 4 and made eight relief appearances this spring with Cleveland, posting a 3.86 ERA. He was optioned to Columbus on March 23.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Bahrain mass trial raises deep concern: U.N. rights chief

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet holds a news conference in Mexico City
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet holds a news conference at Centro Cultural Espana in downtown Mexico City, Mexico April 9, 2019 REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

April 18, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Thursday she was concerned that a Bahrain mass trial that revoked the nationality of 138 people this week had not met international fair trial standards.

A court in Western-allied Bahrain sentenced 139 people to jail on terrorism charges on Tuesday and revoked the citizenship of all but one of them, the public prosecutor said, in the latest mass trial in the Gulf Arab state.

“There are serious concerns that the court proceedings failed to comply with international fair trial standards, with a large number of the accused reportedly tried in absentia,” Bachelet said in a statement. Revocation of nationality can have serious consequences in daily life, including the denial of the right to health, education and freedom of movement, she added.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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Migrants fearful after hundreds arrested in Mexico raid

Central American migrants traveling through southern Mexico toward the U.S. on Tuesday fearfully recalled their frantic escape from police the previous day, scuttling under barbed wire fences into pastures and then spending the night in the woods after hundreds were detained in a raid.

In the Chiapas state town of Tonala, migrants flocked to one of the few places they felt they could be safe — the local Roman Catholic Church — only to start with fear at the sound of a passing ambulance's siren.

"There are people still lost up in the woods. The woods are very dangerous," said Arturo Hernández, a sinewy 59-year-old farmer from Comayagua, Honduras, who fled through the woods with his grandson. "They waited until we were resting and fell upon us, grabbing children and women."

Mexican immigration authorities said 367 people were detained Monday in what was the largest single raid so far on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through the country last year. Journalists from The Associated Press saw police target isolated groups at the tail end of a caravan of about 3,000 near Pijijiapan, wrestling migrants into police vehicles for transport and presumably deportation as children wailed.

Now terrified of walking exposed on the highways, some turned in desperation to a tactic that used to be a popular way north, clambering aboard a passing freight train bound for the neighboring state of Tabasco. It's been years since migrants hopped trains in large numbers.

Javier Núñez, 25-year-old Honduran, said he and his family walked through the hills, along a river and by some train tracks after the raid before venturing into the town of Pijijiapan to find something to eat. But agents appeared again Monday night and detained his wife and son, who he said were taken to an immigration facility in Tapachula for deportation processing.

"They were hunting us," Núñez said. As he sees it, the only thing to do is go on alone, see how far he can make it. "Now we are afraid of everyone who looks at us or approaches."

Asked about the detentions in a Tuesday morning news conference, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not give details on what he referred to as an "incident" but acknowledged that the government is not letting migrants simply go wherever they please. He denied taking a hard line, saying controls are for migrants' security because human traffickers are allegedly infiltrated among the caravans.

"We don't want for them to just have free passage," López Obrador said, "not just out of legal concerns but for questions of safety."

While U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up public pressure on Mexico to do more to stem the flow of Central American migration through its territory, López Obrador repeated previous assertions by officials that his government has not changed its approach toward the caravans, and rejected criticism from some that the immigration policy seems unclear or even contradictory.

In recent months Mexico has deported thousands of migrants. It has also issued more than 15,000 humanitarian visas that allow migrants to remain in the country and work.

The National Migration Institute said in a statement late Monday that the 367 people had been "rescued" — a turn of phrase it commonly uses to talk about migrants found in all sorts of situations, whether kidnapped for ransom by cartel gunmen, crammed into dangerously overcrowded tractor-trailers, or simply arrested en route and sent for deportation processing.

The institute said that agents were carrying out an immigration check Monday on a group of migrants who "began an aggression" against the agents, who then called in federal police. Among those detained were a "significant number" of children and women.

AP journalists who were present did not witness any initial violent behavior by the migrants. During a second detention operation, some from the caravan took up rocks and clubs and at least one stone was thrown, but authorities did not report any injuries to agents.

It was "a planned ambush ... to break up this caravan," said Denis Aguilar, a factory union leader from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. "They grabbed the children ... the strollers are abandoned there."

Aguilar said he and his brother fled through the woods until they found a ranch house whose residents took them in. In the morning, the family drove them to a bus stop.

Maria Mesa, a homemaker from La Esperanza, Honduras, said she saw officials tugging children as their mothers battled to pull them through the barbed wire fences. She saw other children weeping, alone, on the edge of the woods. Mesa has kids of her own, but left them home because she knew it would be a hard journey.

Her decision to go alone contrasts with the many thousands of others from Central America migrating with relatives toward the U.S. border, where detentions of people traveling in families have spiked. They typically say they are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries, and many hope to seek asylum.

Those who arrive at the U.S. border must contend with policies limiting how many are allowed to apply for refuge each day. The United States has also returned some to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases inch through a backlogged court system. Trump recently told migrants not to come, saying "our country is full, turn around."

Migrants who opt to join caravans do so figuring there's safety in numbers and also because it's a relatively inexpensive alternative to paying thousands of dollars for a "coyote," or smuggler.

But they're finding it a much tougher go through Mexico than before. In addition to Monday's dramatic raid, migrants have found a much cooler reaction from townspeople, who last year donated food and clothing but have grown tired of the groups. Migrants say once-friendly Mexicans now refuse to give even water, leaving them no choice but to drink from puddles at times.

"People don't want them to enter the towns," said Gerardo Lara Espinosa, a bus dispatcher in Tonala, who said the caravans are seen as overwhelming small towns and hurting businesses.

Mexican officials said last month that they would try to contain migrants in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico's narrowest stretch and the easiest to control. Pijijiapan is not far from the isthmus' narrowest point, in neighboring Oaxaca state.

About 300 migrants hopped a train Monday to Ixtepec, in Oaxaca. On Tuesday, others were walking along the road to Tonala, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Pijijiapan.

Jorge Herrera, a farm worker from El Progreso, Honduras, said he and his 7-year-old son fled through the woods after the raid. The boy is sunburnt with cuts and mosquito bites. Herrera thinks López Obrador is doing Trump's dirty work.

"He must be bought. He must be paid for them to do this to us," Herrera said.

___

Stevenson reported from Tonala and Pérez D. reported from Pijijiapan, Mexico.

Source: Fox News World

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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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