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New fitness test presents challenges for Army Guard

The Army National Guard is looking for nearly 5,000 fitness instructors and buying roughly $40 million in workout equipment in the next seven months to help its soldiers meet new physical fitness standards being set by the military service.

But even as commanders begin delivering the new 10-pound medicine balls, pull-up bars and hexagon barbells, they also worry whether America's 330,000 citizen soldiers will have the time and the drive to master the new, more grueling Army fitness test.

"For those who are already doing well on their physical fitness test and they have the routine figured out, I think they're going to transition to this new test without any issues," said Army National Guard Lt. Col. Brian Dean, who is responsible for implementing the new test across the Guard. "People who are in those parts of their life where they're still kinda struggling to make the right time for fitness and do fitness in the right ways — this will feel significant."

Could the new physical demands drive soldiers out of the Guard? "It's a concern," Dean said.

Spread out in more than 2,800 armories around the country, members of the Army Guard are required to do weekend duty once a month and a two-week stint during the year. A number of units are also tapped by state governors for help during hurricanes, wildfires, border problems and other events. And, during the peak of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Guard units were routinely called up for active-duty deployments to fill needs that couldn't be met by the overstretched active-duty troops in the battle zones.

Still, many Guard members see more limited duty, and are often focused on their full-time jobs and other commitments, which can be hundreds of miles from the nearest military base.

"Ninety percent of my soldiers are part-time," Maj. Gen. Timothy Orr, the adjutant general for the Iowa National Guard, told The Associated Press in an interview. "I think there's apprehension. There's always the question of how are we going to do this with the time that we have, and the equipment we have."

Orr, who has been in the Guard for 40 years, said that a key unanswered issue will be how soldiers with various permanent physical limitations will be treated, particularly those who have served for many years. Under the current fitness test, troops can arrange to substitute certain exercises for ones they can't do.

For example, someone with a knee injury who can't run two miles is able to substitute swimming or bicycling for part of the current fitness test. Orr said the Army is still working through the details, so it's not clear yet how they will handle the matter and whether there will be alternate tests.

"I think we have committed troops today, committed leaders, and folks will step up to the challenge," said Orr, who has about 8,600 Guard soldiers in his state. "There may be select individuals that will say, 'Hey, I've had enough and I want to leave.' But I think we're a professional Army and this is just another of the many challenges we've had, especially over the last 18 years."

The Army's current physical fitness test, which is being replaced by a new more strenuous one, consisted of two minutes of push-ups and sit-ups and a two-mile run. By Oct. 1, Army soldiers will begin taking the new test, which takes about an hour and includes a deadlift, more difficult push-ups, a sled-drag, an array of other exercises, and ends with the two-mile run.

Beginning Oct. 1, 2020, all soldiers will have to routinely pass the new test in order to qualify for their military jobs.

Dean said the Guard wants to give its soldiers a full year to learn and train for the new test. So, all the equipment and trainers must be in place in all the armories by October.

"What we don't want is to have people who never trained on weight-lifting equipment grabbing that stuff and injuring themselves," Dean said.

Orr said he would like to see physical therapists assigned to each state that can help Guard soldiers prevent injuries or help them heal if they get hurt.

Dean said the Army is providing funding for the equipment and Guard leaders are working out how much of it has to be delivered to each armory and state training center. Since units across the country are different sizes and compositions, it will take time to figure out how much equipment each community needs.

The biggest challenge, said Dean, is the timeline — particularly identifying the thousands of trainers needed to staff all of the armories and work with soldiers on the new fitness regime. It takes about two days to get someone certified, and he said that so far only about 500 of the needed 5,000 trainers are in place.

Getting the rest, he said, "is a challenge, but it's not insurmountable."

Source: Fox News National

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Trump urges Fed to lower U.S. interest rates

U.S. President Trump departs on travel to the U.S. Southern border from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to the U.S.-Mexico border from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

April 5, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday the U.S. Federal Reserve should lower interest rates, noting that newly released jobs numbers showed the economy had performed well but adding that action by the central bank had really slowed down the economy.

The Fed raised interest rates four times last year, and Trump has been a vocal and strident critic of the rate hikes under Jerome Powell, whom the president picked two years ago to chair the U.S. central bank. Trump’s other Fed appointees have also supported the rate hikes.

On Thursday, Trump said he plans to nominate his political ally Herman Cain, the former head of Godfather’s Pizza, to one of two vacancies on the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors.

Two weeks ago, Trump said he would nominate conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore to the other vacant seat on the Fed’s board. Moore is also a longtime Trump ally who has joined him in criticizing last year’s rate hikes.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by David Alexander and David Gregorio; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Susan Thomas)

Source: OANN

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European data supervisor investigates Microsoft contracts with EU bodies

FILE PHOTO: Microsoft holds device-launching event in Barcelona ahead of the 2019 Mobile World Congress
FILE PHOTO: The Microsoft logo is pictured ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

April 8, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s data protection supervisor on Monday said it had launched an investigation into whether services and products provided by the software giant Microsoft to EU institutions comply with its new data protection rules.

EU bodies, like the European Commission and the Parliament, rely on Microsoft services and products to carry out their daily activities, the supervisor said.

The investigation will look into whether the contractual arrangements between the U.S. company and EU institutions to process personal data are “fully compliant with data protection rules.”

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel)

Source: OANN

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David Horowitz: Arrogant, Seductive Dems Just Like Satan

Author David Horowitz compared Democrats to Satan in an interview Saturday night, saying they have the same "arrogance" as the serpent did in the Garden of Eden.

Horowitz, whose latest book is "Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America," was on "Huckabee" and did not hold back on his criticisms of the American left.

"What did the serpent say to Adam and Eve? 'If you eat of that tree, you shall be as God.' Every leftist has that arrogance," Horowitz told host Mike Huckabee.

"They think they can remake the world. Just look at the Green New Deal that this idiot woman is proposing."

The Green New Deal was introduced by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The legislation proposed drastic changes to how Americans live, from the cars they drive, the airplanes in which they fly, and healthcare. The ideas have estimated costs of up to nearly $100 trillion, and conservatives have ridiculed them — Horowitz included.

"You couldn't get rid of gasoline cars without instituting a police state," he told Huckabee. "And believe me, they will have no compunction about doing it. Don't call it socialism, it's communism. That's who they are."

Regarding recent developments at the state-level regarding abortion, including a New York law that allows late-term abortions and discussion in Virginia about post-birth abortions, Horowitz was even more appalled.

"Even though I know how evil the left is — they talk a good line, they're very seductive, but so is the serpent — I never thought I'd live to see the day when they would pass laws, the Democrats, to kill children who have already been born. This is so inhumane," he said.

Source: NewsMax America

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Futures bounce on upbeat China data, trade hopes

FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

April 3, 2019

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, indicating Wall Street would resume its rally following a pause in the previous session, supported by fresh signs of recovery in China’s economy and optimism over trade talks with Beijing.

World stocks were at its highest in six months after data showed the China services sector rose to a 14-month high in March. The report which allayed fears about a global economic slowdown comes on the heels of upbeat manufacturing data in China and the United States.

Comments from White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday that the United States and China “expect to make more headway” in trade talks this week fired up hopes of a resolution to the months-long trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

Chipmakers, which get a large part of their revenue from China, were higher in premarket trading. Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Micron Technology Inc and Intel Corp rose between 1% and 3.8%, while semiconductor stocks in Europe and Asia also rallied.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index has surged nearly 24% this year on hopes of a trade deal and strengthening global demand for chips.

At 7:14 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 113 points, or 0.43%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 14.5 points, or 0.51% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 44.75 points, or 0.6%.

Wall Street came under pressure on Tuesday after three days of gains, but the S&P 500 closed at a near six-month high and is now 2.2% away from a record high hit in September.

Investors will be on the look out for the private jobs report and services sector numbers for March.

The National Employment Report by ADP at 8:15 a.m. ET is expected to show that U.S. companies hired 170,000 workers in March, after hiring 183,000 workers in February.

All eyes will be on the March nonfarm payrolls data on Friday, which is expected to show that the U.S. economy added 180,000 jobs in March, from only 20,000 jobs in February.

The Institute for Supply Management’s report is likely to show that its services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) came in at 58 points for March, down from 59.7 in February. The data is set to release at 10 a.m. ET.

Among other stocks, GameStop Corp fell 11.4% after the videogame retailer forecast current-quarter profit below analysts’ estimates.

Caterpillar Inc dropped 1.1% on a report that Deutsche Bank downgraded the company’s stock to a “hold” rating.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Source: OANN

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Mysterious Drug-Resistant Germ Deemed An “Urgent Threat” Is Quietly Sweeping The Globe

Thanks to the overprescription of antimicrobial drugs and use of antifungicides in crop production, a relatively new germ that preys on people with weakened immune systems is rapidly spreading across the globe, according to the New York Times

A projection of the C. auris fungus on a microscope slide.CreditMelissa Golden for The New York Times

The infection – a fungus known as Candida auris, kills almost half of all patients who contract it within 90 days, according to the CDC – as it’s impervious to most major antifungal medications. First described in 2009 after a 70-year-old Japanese woman showed up at a Tokyo hospital with C. auris in her ear canal, the aggressive yeast infection has spread across Asia and Europe – arriving in the US by 2016.

The earliest known case in the United States involved a woman who arrived at a New York hospital on May 6, 2013, seeking care for respiratory failure. She was 61 and from the United Arab Emirates, and she died a week later, after testing positive for the fungus. At the time, the hospital hadn’t thought much of it, but three years later, it sent the case to the C.D.C. after reading the agency’s June 2016 advisory. –NYT

In the last five years alone, it it has swept through a hospital in Spain, hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, spread throughout India, Pakistan and South Africa, and forced a prestigious British medical center to close its ICU for nearly two weeks.

By the end of June 2016, a scientific paper reported “an ongoing outbreak of 50 C. auris cases” at Royal Brompton, and the hospital took an extraordinary step: It shut down its I.C.U. for 11 days, moving intensive care patients to another floor, again with no announcement.

Days later the hospital finally acknowledged to a newspaper that it had a problem. A headline in The Daily Telegraph warned, “Intensive Care Unit Closed After Deadly New Superbug Emerges in the U.K.” (Later research said there were eventually 72 total cases, though some patients were only carriers and were not infected by the fungus.) –NYT

After C. auris reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois, the CDC added it to a list of germs deemed “urgent threats.”


Alex Jones reveals what actually fills the minds of those vampiric pedophiles that crave power and the innocence of your children.

Last May, an elderly man who was admitted to the Brooklyn branch of Mount Sinai Hospital for abdominal surgery was found to be infected with the drug-resistant candida. He died after 90 days in the hospital, however C. auris did not according to the Times. According to tests, the germ was everywhere in his room – to such a degree that the hospital required special cleaning equipment and had to rip out ceiling and floor tiles to get rid of it.

“Everything was positive — the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump,” said Hospital president Dr. Scott Lorin. “The mattress, the bed rails, the canister holes, the window shades, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive.”

Dr. Shawn Lockhart, a fungal disease expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, holding a microscope slide with inactive Candida auris collected from an American patient.

Why is this happening?

Simply put, fungi are evolving defenses to resist and survive modern medications.

“It’s an enormous problem,” said Imperial College of London fungal epidemiology professor Matthew Fisher, who co-authored a recent scientific review on the rise of resistant fungi. “We depend on being able to treat those patients with antifungals.”

The C.D.C. investigators theorized that C. auris started in Asia and spread across the globe. But when the agency compared the entire genome of auris samples from India and Pakistan, Venezuela, South Africa and Japan, it found that its origin was not a single place, and there was not a single auris strain.

The genome sequencing showed that there were four distinctive versions of the fungus, with differences so profound that they suggested that these strains had diverged thousands of years ago and emerged as resistant pathogens from harmless environmental strains in four different places at the same time. –NYT

“Somehow, it made a jump almost seemingly simultaneously, and seemed to spread and it is drug resistant, which is really mind-boggling,” said CDC fungal expert Dr. Snigdha Vallabhaneni.

While various theories exist as to why C. auris has made a grand entrance, Dutch microbiologist Jacques Meis believes the drug-resistant fungi are developing thanks to the heavy use of fungicides on crops.

Dr. Meis visited the C.D.C. last summer to share research and theorize that the same thing is happening with C. auris, which is also found in the soil: Azoles have created an environment so hostile that the fungi are evolving, with resistant strains surviving.

This is similar to concerns that resistant bacteria are growing because of excessive use of antibiotics in livestock for health and growth promotion. As with antibiotics in farm animals, azoles are used widely on crops. –NYT

“On everything — potatoes, beans, wheat, anything you can think of, tomatoes, onions,” said Dr. Johanna Rodes, an infectious disease expert at Imperial College London. “We are driving this with the use of antifungicides on crops.”

Keeping it quiet

In 2015, Dr. Rhodes received a panicked call from the Royal Brompton Hospital medical research center outside of London, where C. auris had taken root months earlier. The hospital had no idea how to get rid of it.

Dr. Johanna Rhodes, an infectious disease expert at Imperial College London. “We are driving this with the use of antifungicides on crops,” she said of drug-resistant germs.CreditTom Jamieson for The New York Times

“We have no idea where it’s coming from. We’ve never heard of it. It’s just spread like wildfire,” Rhodes was told, before she helped them clean it up. Under her direction, hospital workers used a special aerosol devices to spray hydrogen peroxide around a room which housed a patient with the germ – with the theory being that the vapor would permeate the entire room.

After one week of saturating the room, they put a “settle plate” in the middle of it with a gel at the bottom that would allow any remaining microbes to grow.

Only one grew back; C. aurisAnd officials were scrambling to keep a lid on it.

It was spreading, but word of it was not. The hospital, a specialty lung and heart center that draws wealthy patients from the Middle East and around Europe, alerted the British government and told infected patients, but made no public announcement.

“There was no need to put out a news release during the outbreak,” said Oliver Wilkinson, a spokesman for the hospital.

This hushed panic is playing out in hospitals around the world. Individual institutions and national, state and local governments have been reluctant to publicize outbreaks of resistant infections, arguing there is no point in scaring patients — or prospective ones. –NYT

And while the Brompton Hospital case did make headlines, the issue remaied largely out of the spotlight internationally – despite an even larger outbreak in Valencia, Spain occurring at virtually the same time at the 992-bed Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe. Unknown to the public or unaffected patients, 372 people had become “colonized” with the germ – meaning it was on their bodies but they had not yet contracted it. Of those, 85 patients developed bloodstream infections, and 41% of those died within 30 days.

And while other prominent strains of Candida have not developed significant resistance to drugs, over 90% of C. auris infections are resistant to at least one drug, while 30% are resistant to two or more drugs.

According to Connecticut’s deputy state epidemiologist Dr. Lynn Sosa, C. auris is now “the top” threat among resident infections.

It’s pretty much unbeatable and difficult to identity.

Thanks to the overprescription of antimicrobial drugs and use of antifungicides in crop production, a relatively new germ that preys on people with weakened immune systems is rapidly spreading across the globe, according to the New York Times

A projection of the C. auris fungus on a microscope slide.CreditMelissa Golden for The New York Times

The infection – a fungus known as Candida auris, kills almost half of all patients who contract it within 90 days, according to the CDC – as it’s impervious to most major antifungal medications. First described in 2009 after a 70-year-old Japanese woman showed up at a Tokyo hospital with C. auris in her ear canal, the aggressive yeast infection has spread across Asia and Europe – arriving in the US by 2016.

The earliest known case in the United States involved a woman who arrived at a New York hospital on May 6, 2013, seeking care for respiratory failure. She was 61 and from the United Arab Emirates, and she died a week later, after testing positive for the fungus. At the time, the hospital hadn’t thought much of it, but three years later, it sent the case to the C.D.C. after reading the agency’s June 2016 advisory. –NYT

In the last five years alone, it it has swept through a hospital in Spain, hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, spread throughout India, Pakistan and South Africa, and forced a prestigious British medical center to close its ICU for nearly two weeks.

By the end of June 2016, a scientific paper reported “an ongoing outbreak of 50 C. auris cases” at Royal Brompton, and the hospital took an extraordinary step: It shut down its I.C.U. for 11 days, moving intensive care patients to another floor, again with no announcement.

Days later the hospital finally acknowledged to a newspaper that it had a problem. A headline in The Daily Telegraph warned, “Intensive Care Unit Closed After Deadly New Superbug Emerges in the U.K.” (Later research said there were eventually 72 total cases, though some patients were only carriers and were not infected by the fungus.) –NYT

After C. auris reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois, the CDC added it to a list of germs deemed “urgent threats.”

Last May, an elderly man who was admitted to the Brooklyn branch of Mount Sinai Hospital for abdominal surgery was found to be infected with the drug-resistant candida. He died after 90 days in the hospital, however C. auris did not according to the Times. According to tests, the germ was everywhere in his room – to such a degree that the hospital required special cleaning equipment and had to rip out ceiling and floor tiles to get rid of it.

“Everything was positive — the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump,” said Hospital president Dr. Scott Lorin. “The mattress, the bed rails, the canister holes, the window shades, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive.”

Dr. Shawn Lockhart, a fungal disease expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, holding a microscope slide with inactive Candida auris collected from an American patient.

Why is this happening?

Simply put, fungi are evolving defenses to resist and survive modern medications.

“It’s an enormous problem,” said Imperial College of London fungal epidemiology professor Matthew Fisher, who co-authored a recent scientific review on the rise of resistant fungi. “We depend on being able to treat those patients with antifungals.”

The C.D.C. investigators theorized that C. auris started in Asia and spread across the globe. But when the agency compared the entire genome of auris samples from India and Pakistan, Venezuela, South Africa and Japan, it found that its origin was not a single place, and there was not a single auris strain.

The genome sequencing showed that there were four distinctive versions of the fungus, with differences so profound that they suggested that these strains had diverged thousands of years ago and emerged as resistant pathogens from harmless environmental strains in four different places at the same time. –NYT

“Somehow, it made a jump almost seemingly simultaneously, and seemed to spread and it is drug resistant, which is really mind-boggling,” said CDC fungal expert Dr. Snigdha Vallabhaneni.

While various theories exist as to why C. auris has made a grand entrance, Dutch microbiologist Jacques Meis believes the drug-resistant fungi are developing thanks to the heavy use of fungicides on crops.

Dr. Meis visited the C.D.C. last summer to share research and theorize that the same thing is happening with C. auris, which is also found in the soil: Azoles have created an environment so hostile that the fungi are evolving, with resistant strains surviving.

This is similar to concerns that resistant bacteria are growing because of excessive use of antibiotics in livestock for health and growth promotion. As with antibiotics in farm animals, azoles are used widely on crops. –NYT

“On everything — potatoes, beans, wheat, anything you can think of, tomatoes, onions,” said Dr. Johanna Rodes, an infectious disease expert at Imperial College London. “We are driving this with the use of antifungicides on crops.”

Keeping it quiet

In 2015, Dr. Rhodes received a panicked call from the Royal Brompton Hospital medical research center outside of London, where C. auris had taken root months earlier. The hospital had no idea how to get rid of it.

Dr. Johanna Rhodes, an infectious disease expert at Imperial College London. “We are driving this with the use of antifungicides on crops,” she said of drug-resistant germs.CreditTom Jamieson for The New York Times

“We have no idea where it’s coming from. We’ve never heard of it. It’s just spread like wildfire,” Rhodes was told, before she helped them clean it up. Under her direction, hospital workers used a special aerosol devices to spray hydrogen peroxide around a room which housed a patient with the germ – with the theory being that the vapor would permeate the entire room.

After one week of saturating the room, they put a “settle plate” in the middle of it with a gel at the bottom that would allow any remaining microbes to grow.

Only one grew back; C. aurisAnd officials were scrambling to keep a lid on it.

It was spreading, but word of it was not. The hospital, a specialty lung and heart center that draws wealthy patients from the Middle East and around Europe, alerted the British government and told infected patients, but made no public announcement.

“There was no need to put out a news release during the outbreak,” said Oliver Wilkinson, a spokesman for the hospital.

This hushed panic is playing out in hospitals around the world. Individual institutions and national, state and local governments have been reluctant to publicize outbreaks of resistant infections, arguing there is no point in scaring patients — or prospective ones. –NYT

And while the Brompton Hospital case did make headlines, the issue remaied largely out of the spotlight internationally – despite an even larger outbreak in Valencia, Spain occurring at virtually the same time at the 992-bed Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe. Unknown to the public or unaffected patients, 372 people had become “colonized” with the germ – meaning it was on their bodies but they had not yet contracted it. Of those, 85 patients developed bloodstream infections, and 41% of those died within 30 days.

And while other prominent strains of Candida have not developed significant resistance to drugs, over 90% of C. auris infections are resistant to at least one drug, while 30% are resistant to two or more drugs.

According to Connecticut’s deputy state epidemiologist Dr. Lynn Sosa, C. auris is now “the top” threat among resident infections.

It’s pretty much unbeatable and difficult to identity.

Source: InfoWars

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Virginia Republicans seek testimony from Justin Fairfax accusers

A top Virginia Republican announced Friday that the state's judiciary committee will invite the two women accusing  Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault to testify when the legislature returns in April.

Del. Rob Bell, chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee, made the announcement after demands from the accusers’ lawyers that the legislature take action on the allegations before it adjourns this weekend.

JUSTIN FAIRFAX ACCUSER SAYS DEMS ARE DUCKING HER CASE: 'PURE COWARDICE'

“Today, the Courts of Justice Committee will schedule a meeting,” Bell said on the House floor. “We will invite Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Ms. Merideth Watson to testify. We will also be inviting Lt. Gov. Fairfax to testify to give all parties a chance to be heard.”

Bell cited the committee's responsibility to “investigate the conduct” of “all public officers and agents concerned” to protect the public interest.

The move came after Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox,  a Republican, said Thursday that he had been working to organize a bipartisan committee to investigate the allegations against Fairfax. But Cox said Democrats resisted the idea.

A source close to Cox told Fox News on Friday that the speaker wanted the committee to be bipartisan but, absent participation of Democrats, Cox was concerned the effort would be seen as a partisan operation.

While that effort has stalled, the announcement of a hearing marks a significant development following concerns from the accusers and their attorneys that Richmond officials might move past the controversy without investigating the underlying allegations. Virginia House Democrats, earlier this week, reiterated calls for Fairfax to resign, but said they “believe the law enforcement investigation should proceed encumbered and outside of the political arena.”

Tyson’s attorney Debra Katz on Thursday raised alarm that the legislature could adjourn without action. “It is unfathomable that the Virginia General Assembly appears intent on ending its current session without addressing this issue in any meaningful way,” Katz said, urging the General Assembly to hire independent investigators to conduct a probe.

Watson’s legal team also accused state Democrats of “pure cowardice” in allegedly ducking the issue, while calling for hearings.

FAIRFAX ACCUSER CALLS ON DEMS TO PROBE CLAIMS IMMEDIATELY

Tyson, the first to come forward, has claimed that Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex at a hotel in Boston during the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Fairfax has denied the allegation, saying their relationship was consensual. Tyson has maintained it was not.

Tyson’s legal team noted that she has “made clear that she is willing to cooperate in any investigation” by the Assembly and by the Suffolk County District Attorney—which has jurisdiction over the alleged incident. Last week, the district attorney’s office offered to hear from Tyson, saying in a statement that the office’s “resources” were available to her. The district attorney’s office on Friday did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the status of those possible talks.

Watson’s allegations surfaced days after Tyson’s. She claimed that Fairfax, in 2000 while they were students at Duke University, raped her.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fairfax has said that the encounters with Watson and Tyson were consensual and suggested that both women’s accusations are part of a political smear campaign to prevent him from succeeding Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam if he’s forced to resign amid a racist photo scandal.

“I have never forced myself on anyone ever,” Fairfax said. “I demand a full investigation into these unsubstantiated and false allegations. Such an investigation will confirm my account because I am telling the truth.”

Fox News' Alex Pappas, Garrett Tenney and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED FOR CASH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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