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U.S. trial tests claims Roundup weed killer caused cancer

FILE PHOTO: A woman uses a Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller spray without glyphosate in a garden in Ercuis near Paris
FILE PHOTO: A woman uses a Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller spray without glyphosate in a garden in Ercuis near Paris, France, May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

February 25, 2019

By Jim Christie

(Reuters) – Bayer AG on Monday faced a second U.S. jury over allegations that its popular glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer, six months after the company’s share price was rocked by a $289 million verdict in California state court.

The lawsuit by California resident Edwin Hardeman against the company began on Monday morning in federal rather than state court. The trial is also a test case for a larger litigation. More than 760 of the 9,300 Roundup cases nationwide are consolidated in the federal court in San Francisco that is hearing Hardeman’s case.

Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup or glyphosate cause cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, saying decades of independent studies have shown the world’s most widely used weed killer to be safe for human use and noting that regulators around the world have approved the product.

During the first phase in the trial, the nine-person jury is asked to weigh scientific evidence to determine whether Roundup caused Hardeman’s lymphoma.

Aimee Wagstaff, a lawyer for Hardeman, told a packed courtroom during her opening statement on Monday that chemicals in Roundup made the weed killer more toxic than glyphosate alone, causing the man’s cancer.

But U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who presides over the federal litigation, repeatedly scolded her for “crossing the line” by referring to internal corporate communications the judge has said have no bearing on the science in the case.

“You completely disregarded the limitations,” Chhabria said.

In a January ruling, Chhabria called evidence by plaintiffs that the company allegedly attempted to influence regulators and manipulate public opinion “a distraction” from the scientific question of whether glyphosate causes cancer.

If the jury determines Roundup caused Hardeman’s cancer, the judge said such evidence could be presented in a second trial phase.

Plaintiffs criticized Chhabria’s order dividing the trial and restricting evidence as “unfair,” saying their scientific evidence allegedly showing glyphosate causes cancer is inextricably linked to Monsanto’s alleged wrongful conduct.

Evidence of corporate misconduct was seen as playing a key role in the finding by a California state court jury in August that Roundup caused another man’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that Bayer’s Monsanto unit failed to warn consumers about the weed killer’s cancer risks. That jury’s $289 million damages award was later reduced to $78 million.

Bayer’s share price dropped 10 percent following the verdict and has remained volatile.

Brian Stekloff, a lawyer for Bayer, in his opening statement attacked the idea of a link between Roundup and cancer. He noted U.S. rates of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have remained steady over time, even when Roundup use began to soar in the 1990s.

Hardeman began using the Roundup brand herbicide with glyphosate in the 1980s to control poison oak and weeds on his property and sprayed “large volumes” of the chemical for many years on a regular basis, according to court documents. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 66 in February 2015 and filed his lawsuit a year later. Hardeman is currently in remission.

But Stekloff on Monday said Hardeman’s age and his history of chronic hepatitis C were known risk factors for developing lymphoma. The lawyer also said the majority of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma incidents are idiopathic, or have no known cause.

(Reporting by Jim Christie in San Francisco, Writing by Tina Bellon; editing by Anthony Lin, Lisa Shumamker and Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

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Novatek close to deal with Saudi Aramco on Arctic LNG 2 project: CEO

Novatek Chairman Mikhelson attends Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow
Novatek Chairman of the Management Board Leonid Mikhelson takes part in a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week international forum in Moscow, Russia October 3, 2018. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

March 17, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Leonid Mikhelson, chief executive of Russian gas giant Novatek, said on Sunday he had discussed the company’s Arctic LNG 2 project with Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih and that a deal could be expected soon.

“We are in talks with Saudi Aramco (on the Arctic LNG 2 project). I think we will get something concrete in coming months,” Mikhelson said, adding that he did not expect global liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices to change after the project’s launch.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of OPEC members and other major oil exporters in Baku, Mikhelson also said that the so-called ‘gas OPEC’ – a loose organization of global leading producers of natural gas – would strengthen on the global energy markets.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Polina Ivanova, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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Wall Street bull run hinges on earnings

FILE PHOTO: Street signs for Broad St. and Wall St. are seen outside of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Street signs for Broad St. and Wall St. are seen outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 9, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Optimism that the United States and China will soon reach a trade deal has helped propel stocks close to new highs, but the decisive factor in whether the bull market runs much further may be this year’s corporate earnings.

Earnings season begins in earnest on Friday when JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co report quarterly results. Profit forecasts have been falling, and beating these lowered expectations could provide a catalyst for sustaining the rally that began a decade ago, investors say.

The S&P 500 has risen 14.8% so far this year and is now just 1.8% below its record closing high of 2,930.75 on Sept. 20 and even closer to the 2,900 median year-end forecast from market strategists polled by Reuters in February.

Rising expectations that a U.S.-China trade agreement is imminent have driven much of this year’s gain in stocks, a reversal of the sharp sell-off in the fourth quarter of 2018. The Federal Reserve’s move to pause interest-rate hikes has also helped fuel the run-up, outweighing concerns that the global economy is slowing.

Yet those factors may not be enough to sustain the bull run if corporate earnings are underwhelming. Risks remain on trade too, with U.S. trade official Clete Willems telling Reuters on Monday that the White House is “not satisfied yet” about all the issues standing in the way of a deal to end the U.S.-China trade war.

While earnings are expected to fall 2.5% year-over-year in the first quarter and register tepid growth in the second and third quarters, according to Refinitiv, consensus estimates have them rebounding in the fourth quarter, rising 8.9%.

“Whatever trade deal may come to fruition may cause a small short-term spike in markets, but it’s largely priced in,” said Oliver Pursche, chief market strategist at Bruderman Asset Management in New York. “Corporate earnings and economic data are much more critical.”

Especially worrying for investors is the potential of a corporate earnings recession, defined as at least two quarters of falling year-over-year profits, in 2019. First-quarter earnings are already projected to fall from 2018 figures, and further downward revisions to second-quarter estimates, currently at 2.5% year-over-year growth, could put them in negative territory as well.

“Almost all the earnings growth is backloaded into the end of the year,” said Emily Roland, head of capital markets research at John Hancock Investments in Boston. “We’re going to need a positive surprise in earnings to keep the engine running for strong market returns.”

Some believe that with lowered expectations, companies have ample room to surprise to the upside in their quarterly reports. Even if first-quarter profits decline, upbeat outlooks for the rest of the year could lift stocks.

Earnings estimates do not reflect the positive effect of lower interest rates, said John Carey, portfolio manager at Amundi Pioneer Asset Management in Boston. Lower rates also bode well for consumer confidence, Carey said.

“With a more benign interest-rate outlook, we could go back to more positive earnings projections,” he said. “It’s a fairly major development.”

TRADE DEAL COULD PLAY ROLE IN EARNINGS

While many investors believe a U.S. trade agreement with China would provide only a limited boost to equities at this point, the effects of such a deal could play a significant role in earnings outlooks for the second half of the year.

Investors have sought to pinpoint how much of a slowdown in China’s economic growth can be attributed to the effect of U.S. tariffs.

If China’s economy continues to slow even after a trade deal is reached, that malaise could inflame global economic fears once again, said Shannon Saccocia, chief investment officer at Boston Private. That could trigger a flight away from shares of U.S. multinationals with high China exposure, similar to what occurred in the spring of 2018.

But several market watchers expect a rebound in Chinese economic growth as the country’s stimulus measures take root and trade pressures are alleviated.

Such a recovery would bode well for U.S. corporate earnings, particularly in the technology sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, for instance, has risen 26.8% this year on the expectation that demand for chips will rebound as China’s pace of economic growth is restored.

“If earnings growth firms up a little bit, that can drive the market higher,” said James Ragan, director of wealth management research at D.A. Davidson in Seattle. “If we have a good U.S. economy and get China stimulus, you could make the argument that the environment for corporate earnings is positive.”

(Reporting by April Joyner; Editing by Alden Bentley and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

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Bernie boosts Omar as Dems’ Israel rift deepens


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On the roster: Bernie boosts Omar as Dems’ Israel rift deepens - Biden staffing up with key Latino outreach hire - Poll shows Trump in trouble with Michigan voters - Audible: Nicklebackbenchers - Study accuracy: 100/100

BERNIE BOOSTS OMAR AS DEMS’ ISRAEL RIFT DEEPENS 
Politico: “When the latest controversy erupted over Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments about Israel, only one 2020 presidential candidate rushed to her defense: Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator, the only Jewish candidate in the Democratic primary, embraced the African-American, Muslim congresswoman… No other presidential contender came out as quickly — or as forcefully — as Sanders, who laid down a clear line in the crowded Democratic field between those running as true progressives on foreign policy and those who support an existing U.S. policy that tends to favor Israel over Palestine. Sanders’ reaction to Omar’s comments — in which she said Israel’s allies ‘push for allegiance to a foreign country’ — served other purposes as well: it helped solidify his hold on the party’s left wing and dovetailed with his intensified outreach to older African-American voters, a critical constituency that failed to warm to him in 2016.”

Dem frosh turn tables - Fox News: “The passage Thursday of a broad anti-bigotry resolution that exposed chasms in the Democratic caucus regarding Israel marked a coup of sorts for a tight-knit band of House freshmen who – in a matter of hours – were able to shift the spotlight away from embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar’s allegedly anti-Semitic remarks and refocus on issues like Islamophobia and pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. … After its passage, Omar and her allies were able to cheer the resolution as a win against Islamophobia. ‘Today is historic on many fronts.’ … Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. André Carson, D-Ind., said in a joint statement. … On the sidelines, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign began fundraising, claiming AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) was ‘coming after’ her, Omar and Tlaib for questioning American foreign policy.”

Omar slams Obama’s message of ‘hope and change’ - Fox News: “Rookie Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, fresh off igniting an intra-party uproar with comments widely viewed as anti-Semitic, took a swipe at former President Barack Obama, saying in an explosive interview the 44th president's message of ‘hope and change’ was a ‘mirage’ and blasting his administration's drone and border detention policies. Omar, D-Minn., took aim at the president's famed slogan, while further criticizing the Democratic Party for ‘perpetuating the status quo,’ in the interview with Politico. ‘Recalling the ‘caging of kids’ at the U.S.-Mexico border and the ‘droning of countries around the world’ on Obama’s watch,’ Omar charged that Obama ‘operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor,’ the piece reads.”

Tim Alberta: ‘The Democrats’ dilemma’ - Politico: “[Omar faces] resistance not just from party elders but from many of their fellow freshmen, centrists who campaigned as fixers not firebrands, moderates who are watching warily as the Democrats’ brand is being hijacked by the far left. One of these members is Omar’s neighbor in Minnesota: Dean Phillips, a wealthy businessman who represents the 3rd District. To better understand these dueling visions for the Democratic Party, I sat down with both Omar and Phillips, spent several days in their communities and talked with some of their constituents. What I learned is that, despite the cautionary tale offered by years of vicious Republican infighting, Democrats are dangerously close to entering into their own fratricidal conflict. On matters of both style and substance, the fractures within this freshman class are indicative of the broader divisions in a party long overdue for an ideological reckoning.”

THE RULEBOOK: EVERYTHING’S BUILT ON TRUST  
“In republics, persons elevated from the mass of the community, by the suffrages of their fellow-citizens, to stations of great pre-eminence and power, may find compensations for betraying their trust, which, to any but minds animated and guided by superior virtue, may appear to exceed the proportion of interest they have in the common stock, and to overbalance the obligations of duty.” – Alexander HamiltonFederalist No. 22

TIME OUT: SPORTS BOOKS
This week’s “Book Briefing,” a weekly guide to books from the Atlantic: “In the world of professional baseball, which is in the midst of spring training, the pressure is on for the player atop the mound. The former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel brings you with him as he relives the one wild pitch that forever changed his life in The Phenomenon. But what is the perfect pitch? Terry McDermott’s Off Speed looks to the Seattle Mariners pitcher Félix Hernández’s perfect game, on August 15, 2012, for clues. According to Rowan Ricardo Phillips’s The Circuit, the 2017 tennis season was one of unmet expectations. … Unlike team sports, marathon running requires the mental and physical work of just one individual. In the memoir The Long Run, Catriona Menzies-Pike writes about how she turned to running after experiencing a tremendous loss, and pairs her reflections with historical and cultural analysis of women’s running as a sport.”

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

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 39.8 percent
Average disapproval: 55.8 percent
Net Score: -16 points
Change from one week ago: down 4.6 points 
[Average includes: Quinnipiac University: 41% approve - 55% disapprove; CNN: 37% approve - 57% disapprove; IBD: 42% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 37% approve - 59% disapprove; USA Today/Suffolk: 42% approve - 54% disapprove.]

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**we now return you to our regularly scheduled political palaver**

BIDEN STAFFING UP WITH KEY LATINO OUTREACH HIRE 
Politico: “In the latest sign that Joe Biden will run for president, his team has brought on Cristóbal Alex, the head of the influential Latino Victory Fund, according to a source familiar with the move. It's not clear what role Alex would fill in a Biden presidential campaign. He served as Hillary Clinton’s National Deputy Director of Voter Outreach and Mobilization in 2016. Alex declined to comment but publicly disclosed on Tuesday that he was departing from Latino Victory Fund. He tweeted that he believes ‘Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our nation. I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat him, and my next steps will reflect that.’ The tweet sparked praise of Alex from many corners of the progressive world, including from Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and newly elected Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas).”

Warren targets Amazon, big tech - NYT: “Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is bidding to be the policy pacesetter in the Democratic presidential primary, announced another expansive idea on Friday: a regulatory plan aimed at breaking up some of America’s largest tech companies, including Amazon, Google and Facebook. The proposal — which comes on the same day Ms. Warren will hold a rally in Long Island City, the Queens neighborhood that was to be home to a major new Amazon campus — calls for the appointment of regulators who would ‘unwind tech mergers that illegally undermine competition,’ as well as legislation that would prohibit platforms from both offering a marketplace for commerce and participating in that marketplace. Ms. Warren’s plan would also force the rollback of some acquisitions by technological giants, the campaign said, including Facebook’s deals for WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon’s addition of Whole Foods, and Google’s purchase of Waze.”

Booker snags top S.C. hire - WVIC:Brady Quirk-Garvan, who has served as the Chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party for five years, announced that he is stepping down in order to endorse Senator Cory Booker for President. With his announcement, Quirk-Garvan become the first South Carolina Democratic Party official to make an endorsement in the 2020 presidential nominating contest. … Quirk-Garvan has worked on dozens of political races in South Carolina. In 2008, he worked for President Obama's campaign in Ohio. Since 2014, he has served as the Chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party.”

Harris’ crowd-pleasing tax rebate plan comes with a hefty price tag - San Francisco Chronicle: “Even at this early stage in the presidential race, California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris has hit upon a crowd-pleasing proposal: Give a $500 monthly tax credit to families earning less than $100,000. But while it has become Harris’ surest applause line at campaign appearances, some economists caution that it will never pencil out – that it will pile onto a national deficit that is already projected to top $1 trillion a year in the early 2020s and cost the economy more than 800,000 jobs.”

Gillibrand still lacks New York endorsements for 2020 - NYT: “No one from New York’s 21-member congressional delegation is yet backing [Kirsten Gillibrand’s] bid for president. And neither is New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, or its other senator, Chuck Schumer, who as minority leader is staying neutral because numerous senators are in the race. … Home-state political insiders almost certainly will not prove decisive in a presidential primary race that begins in Iowa and New Hampshire. But Ms. Gillibrand’s missing support back home is revealing of both her New York relationships and how she has constructed her national profile, often by staying far from the state’s notoriously fractious and rough-and-tumble fray. In interviews with two-thirds of New York’s Democratic congressional delegation, lawmakers this week offered a variety of rationales and dodges for why none of them has lined up behind their colleague.”

Buttigieg pitches court packing, ditching Electoral College - Fox News: “Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg on Friday highlighted his push to add justices to the Supreme Court and scrap the Electoral College in presidential elections, as he campaigned in the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House. The South Bend, Indiana mayor … said the 2020 election should not be about President Trump, telling reporters that ‘of course we’ll confront him, we’ll call him out. We’ll beat him. But at the end of the day, it’s not about him, it’s about us.’ As he headlined ‘Politics and Eggs’ at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics – a must stop for White House hopefuls – the 37-year old contender and Afghanistan war veteran joked that he’s a ‘young person with a funny name coming out of nowhere….I think it’s safe to say I’m not extremely famous.’” 

Moulton wants to run against Trump on National Security - Atlantic: “The most that the Democratic presidential candidates tend to say about national security involves condemnation of Russia for hacking the 2016 election or broad comments about restoring America’s standing in the world. Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts sees an opening. Some of the Democratic presidential candidates are running to the left. Some are running down the middle. Moulton told [journalist Edward-Isaac Dovere] he will run through VFW halls and college campuses, leaning in on a national-security focus which, even in a field this huge, he is all alone in focusing on—a stance that not only differentiates him, but could eventually draw the others out on foreign affairs. Moulton is clearly a long shot… But his calculus—and that of other more moderate, less well-known candidates—is that the party is veering too far left for its own good in an election against Trump.”

Bullock hires veteran adviser to his PAC - Politico: “Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has hired veteran Democratic operative Jenn Ridder to work for his PAC, in the latest sign that the Western Democrat is nearing a presidential run. Ridder will join Bullock's Big Sky Values PAC as a senior adviser, but she would be an obvious choice to manage Bullock's campaign should he decide to run for president. … Ridder's hiring is the latest in a series of behind-the-scenes moves laying the groundwork for Bullock's potential run.” 

Nevada Dems plan to bulk up caucuses - AP: “Nevada Democrats are proposing changes to their presidential caucus that could dramatically alter the way candidates compete in the state, opening the process to an early-vote and virtual participation. The proposal would expand a single day of caucuses around the state to add four days of early caucuses and two days of early virtual caucusing. The plan, which still needs approval from the Democratic National Committee, would allow more people to participate while likely driving candidates to appear earlier and more often leading up to the main event on Feb. 22, 2020. It would also likely force candidates to invest more resources to more deeply organize and target voters.”

Iowa Poll alert - Des Moines Register: “Results of a new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll on Democratic presidential candidates headed toward the 2020 Iowa caucuses will be released online at 7 p.m. CST Saturday. The poll asks likely Democratic caucusgoers who their top choice for president would be among 21 potential candidates for their party’s nomination. Results also will be aired by CNN, posted at CNN.com Saturday night and appear in the Des Moines Sunday Register. The poll will also test likely Democratic caucusgoers’ opinions on a range of issues, from ‘Medicare-for-all’ to their interest in socialism to what they would like candidates to talk about during their campaigns.”

POLL SHOWS TRUMP IN TROUBLE WITH MICHIGAN VOTERS
Detroit Free Press: “A new poll has more bad news for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election hopes in Michigan, showing that more than half of those surveyed either plan to vote for someone else or are considering doing so next year. The poll, conducted by EPIC-MRA of Lansing, largely tracks with other recent polls done in Michigan and in some other states such as Wisconsin and Florida that show Trump could be in trouble some 20 months before the next election. … Nearly half, 49 percent, of respondents in Michigan say they will definitely vote to replace Trump and another 16 percent say they will consider voting for someone else. Only 31 percent said they will definitely vote to re-elect Trump. Self-described independent voters are driving down Trump's numbers. Among independents, 44 percent say they will definitely vote for someone else and 27 percent say they will consider backing another candidate, while only 18 percent say they would definitely vote to re-elect.”

White house hustles to limit fallout from Trump emergency - WaPo: “The White House is privately ramping up pressure on undecided Republicans to limit defections ahead of the Senate vote on President Trump’s emergency declaration – even as the administration has yet to tell Congress which military projects would be tapped to pay for Trump’s border wall. The vote expected next week is on a resolution to nullify Trump’s Feb. 15 declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, which allows him to access $3.6 billion… Trump wants to use that money for border barriers, after Congress refused to give him all the wall funding he sought. In recent days, the White House has increased its efforts to count votes and persuade fence-sitting GOP senators… Undecided senators have received calls from the White House, and the message, according to one of the senators, is clear: Trump is taking names and noticing who opposes him — particularly if you are running for reelection next year.”

Pentagon prepares to get money if need be - AP: “The Pentagon is planning to tap $1 billion in leftover funds from military pay and pension accounts to help President Donald Trump pay for his long-sought border wall, a top Senate Democrat said Thursday. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Associated Press, ‘It’s coming out of military pay and pensions. $1 billion. That’s the plan.’ Durbin said the funds are available because Army recruitment is down and a voluntary early military retirement program is being underutilized. The development comes as Pentagon officials are seeking to minimize the amount of wall money that would come from military construction projects that are so cherished by lawmakers. … Durbin, the top Democrat on the Appropriations panel for the Pentagon, was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who met with Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday morning.”

Good luck with that: Trump advisers urge him to stick to script - Politico: “As he watches the 2020 Democratic candidates fire up campaign crowds, President Donald Trump is itching to upstage them with rallies of his own. … For now, Trump’s Republican allies and campaign officials believe an early reelection strategy built around his role as chief executive in dignified settings like the Oval Office and the Rose Garden will carry more weight with voters than his signature freewheeling arena speeches. It’s unclear whether Trump, the most politically combative president in recent history, can truly stay above the campaign fray… But Trump’s advisers are still hoping he will capitalize on his incumbency by largely sticking to official events and private, no-cameras fundraisers for the next several months, according to three sources familiar with his campaign, one of whom said the president is making a ‘conscious effort’ to rise above the Democratic scrum.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Bill Shine, Trump’s fifth communications director, calls it quits - Fox News

Dems push through election law changes in symbolic vote Politico

Gloomy February jobs report worries economists - CNBC

Manafort legal woes to continue with DC sentencing next week, possibly new charges in NY - Fox News

AUDIBLE: NICKLEBACKBENCHERS
“I will just wrap by saying, I appreciate that very brave admission of your fandom for Nickelback.” – Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said to Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., during a House floor debate on Democrats’ H.R.-1 bill.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
This weekend Mr. Sunday will sit down with White House Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow and Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif. Watch “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.

#mediabuzz - Host Howard Kurtz has the latest take on the week’s media coverage. Watch #mediabuzz Sundays at 11 a.m. ET.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“Reading your coverage and seeing what is going on, two quotes come to mind. ‘I’m not a member of any organized political party. I’m a Democrat’ - Will Rogers [and] ‘All the Democrats need to do to defeat Trump in 2020 is just not be crazy.  And they can’t do that.’ - Ben Shapiro. Love your stuff.” – George Fuller, St. Louis

[Ed. note: I think you’re on to something, Mr. Fuller. But Democrats have another quote from Rogers in mind about the theme for the election: “That’s one thing about Republican presidents. They never went in much for plans. They only had one plan. It says ‘Boys, my head is turned. Just get it while you can.’” Which one of them applies better to 2020 will determine which side comes out ahead.]  

“Is there an email account for listeners of the [“I’ll Tell You What”] podcast to submit comments and questions? I do not have (and believe its best if I don’t open) a twitter account which appears to be the preferred method of communication. I listened to the ITYW podcast on my drive home yesterday and fear I may have been jinxed. Hell hath fury as a wife whose dog has been snarled at in the morning by her husband.” – Dan Burch, Turlock, Calif.

[Ed. note: We will take all of your action right here, Mr. Burch. HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM is hereby designated as the official unofficial inbox for ITYW. Thanks for listening and I hope you made it out in one piece!

“None of the tracking polls you use do a daily tracking poll to my knowledge so to leave up the same thing for a week appears redundant each day and gives the impression that it is hardly ever changing. My idea would be to post only NEW poll results.” – Will Schafer, Panama, Iowa

[Ed. note: While we certainly take your point and appreciate your loyal readership, Mr. Schafer, we can’t assume that every reader sees every note. Consider the Scoreboard like the baseball standings. Some days they change, some days they don’t sometimes there’s a rain out. But it’s still worth having every day just as a point of reference.] 

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

STUDY ACCURACY: 100/100
CBC: “A man threatened to sue a technology magazine for using his image in a story about why all hipsters look the same, only to find out the picture was of a completely different guy. The story in the MIT Technology Review detailed a study about the so-called hipster effect — ‘the counterintuitive phenomenon in which people who oppose mainstream culture all end up looking the same.’ The inclusion of version of a Getty Images photo of a bearded, flannel-wearing man, altered with a blue and orange hue, prompted one reader to write to the magazine: [the] ‘unnecessary use of my picture without permission demands a response, and I am, of course, pursuing legal action.’ But it wasn't actually him. The site's … creative director ... wrote to Getty Images and [explained the complaint]. … [Getty Images] said, ‘Actually the model in this photo does not have the same name as the person who wrote to you.’” 

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Only a wife can turn a ruthlessly ambitious pol, who undid the Clintons four years ago and today relentlessly demonizes Romney, into a care bear. [Michelle Obama] pulled it off.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Sept. 6, 2012.

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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Uber driver returns to burglarize California home after dropping off homeowner at airport, police say

A California Uber driver was arrested Friday after he attempted to burglarize the home of a customer who he picked up and dropped off at an airport earlier in the day, police said.

Jackie Gordon Wilson, 38, was arrested and charged with burglary and attempted burglary after police said he was caught on video ransacking a home near his initial targeted residence in San Mateo. Wilson picked up the passengers, including the homeowner, from the home Thursday and dropped them off at the airport.

But instead of picking up more customers on the ride-sharing app, Wilson returned to the riders' home, knowing they wouldn’t be there, and attempted to burglarize it, authorities said. His efforts were thwarted when the home’s alarm system went off, San Mateo police said.

Wilson then allegedly went to a different home a few blocks away and “completely ransacked” it. The homeowners, later identified as Shana and Scott, uploaded their home surveillance video onto Ring’s community sharing platform where a resident identified Wilson as the Uber driver, police said.

RIDE-HAILING SAFETY BILL INTRODUCED DAYS AFTER SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE STUDENT FOUND DEAD

Surveillance video from the first San Mateo home showed a man believed to be Wilson lurking outside the front porch about an hour after the airport drop-off. The man eventually abandons his suspected burglary attempt and walking down the street to look for his next target.

Police arrested Wilson and searched his Rancho Cordova home where they said he found items he stole from the second house.

“Stuff is just stuff and I’m happy that we’re safe. But there were family heirlooms that I’m really, really hoping that I can get back. They are from my grandmother [and] they go way back to the Holocaust,” Shana told KTVU.

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Scott added: “I’m definitely thinking twice about taking ride-shares further after this. I think everybody should this is a big deal. He used this to facilitate committing a crime."

Uber said in a statement to KTVU that it has removed Wilson from the ride-hailing app.

“We removed the driver’s access to the app as soon as we were made aware of the allegations and stand ready to assist police in their investigation,” the statement read.

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Police said they are investigating to see whether Wilson is linked to other burglaries.

Source: Fox News National

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Engel, McCaul Forge Rare Bipartisan Bond

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Most top Republicans and Democrats squared off this week in fierce warfare over the Mueller report and its findings clearing President Trump of criminal collusion with Russia, but there was one island of calm in the sea of partisan enmity.

Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mike McCaul, the panel’s ranking Republican, on Monday shared the stage at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington and publicly lauded each other’s personal integrity and shared commitment to protecting the U.S.-Israel alliance.

The easy rapport between the two lawmakers -- particularly the absence of biting words or outward signs of vitriol -- was almost jarring in an era of Twitter storms and continuous partisan recriminations.

“First of all, I think when it comes to foreign affairs, I think it’s very important that partisan politics should stop at the water’s edge – I think it’s very important that other nations see us working together – and we’ve had that tradition on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Engel told the crowd.

McCaul, the former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, was wholeheartedly on board.

“Eliot and I are very protective of the integrity of the committee — it should not be politicized. It should not be partisan,” he said. “In fact, when we travel overseas, we travel not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans representing the United States of America, and that’s what is so great about it.”

The genial conversation between New Yorker Engel and Texan McCaul came the same week many Republicans were calling for several prominent Democratic lawmakers, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, to resign over their role in fueling the Trump-Russian collusion narrative.

Engel was notably absent from that list even though, as a chairman of the top foreign policy panel, he has often joined his Democratic colleagues in questioning President Trump’s ties to Russia and those of his close associates.

In the last month, Engel, along with five other Democratic chairmen, signed a letter to administration officials pressing for documents and interviews related to Trump’s communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Late last week, he also signed onto a Democratic missive demanding that the Justice Department release the full Mueller report and underlying evidence to the relevant congressional committees.

Still, unlike Schiff, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings, and other Democratic anti-Trump bulldogs, Engel hasn’t leveraged his perch on the Foreign Affairs Committee into a leading Russia-collusion antagonist on the cable news circuit, alienating Republicans in the process.  

He also hasn’t let party loyalties hinder his willingness to work with McCaul and other Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans on their many areas of broad agreement.

For the last six years, Engel and former Rep. Ed Royce, the California Republican who previously chaired the panel, enjoyed a similar camaraderie. The same type of bipartisan comity has traditionally extended across the Capitol to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but during the Trump administration that has become increasingly rare.

In the last two years, the cross-party collaboration actually took a perverse turn in the Senate: The former Republican chairman, Sen. Bob Corker, a top Trump GOP adversary, and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, worked together to stymie the confirmation of dozens of the president’s State Department nominations.

Republican Sen. James Risch, who is generally viewed as more closely aligned with Trump, now chairs the panel and is expected to push back against efforts by Menendez to continue blocking the president’s nominees.

Engel and McCaul are hardly natural political allies. They share nearly opposite views when it comes to climate change, abortion, gun control and Obamacare.  But it doesn’t hurt that Engel, who is Jewish, and McCaul are both stalwart defenders of Israel even though Engel’s Democratic caucus is in the middle of a divisive public feud over support for that Mideast ally.

In recent weeks, Engel, a 30-year House veteran and one of the most senior members of his party’s caucus, has been making headlines sparring with freshmen Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, both of whom have been accused of making anti-Semitic comments. Both also support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement against Israel.

When Omar accused U.S. supporters of Israel of dual loyalties by pushing for “allegiance to a foreign country,” Engel led the bipartisan condemnation. He called the comment a “vile anti-Semitic slur” and demanded an apology. Omar previously had accused Israel of “hypnotizing” the world and claimed in her “it’s all about the Benjamins, baby” tweet that lawmakers support Israel in exchange for campaign funds.

Omar eventually apologized for both statements but has continued to take swipes at other Democratic leaders. On Tuesday, she pointedly criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s condemnation of the BDS movement.

After Omar’s first comments sparked a bipartisan backlash, Engel pushed for passage of a resolution denouncing anti-Semitism, but Democratic leaders pivoted and included language condemning Islamophobia and white supremacy, which Republicans derided as an effort to water it down.

During their joint AIPAC appearance, both Engel and McCaul pledged do everything in their power to fortify the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

“I’m very proud of my Jewish heritage, and I’m very proud of the fact that the United States and Israel have remained good friends,” Engel said while sharing the stage with McCaul. A few minutes later he pledged to make sure “that strong bond is never broken.”

They two also readily expressed their concerns about the divisions in the Democratic caucus and what they viewed as anti-Semitic efforts to undermine the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“Yes, we have some people who say things they should not say, and I’m very happy to voice my objection to it publicly,” Engel said.

“I am deeply disturbed by some in Congress who are threatening this alliance. I don’t think I’ve seen this in the 15 years I’ve been in Congress, and I don’t have any tolerance for that,” McCaul said.

Both lawmakers also expressed deep concern about Trump’s decision, now reversed, to significantly draw down troops in Syria, where Iranian Shia militias have made inroads and ISIS could reconstitute without U.S. troops to help stabilize the area.

The two leaders, along with Risch and Menendez, are circulating a letter to Trump highlighting the mounting threats to Israel’s northern border and supporting U.S. action to stand by Israel.

Last month, the pair also teamed up on a letter demanding answers from the administration on how U.S. military equipment ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Yemen. The letter complained about unauthorized transfers of U.S. equipment and weapons by the Saudi and UAE governments. McCaul was one of just three Republicans to sign the letter.

In early January, soon after Engel took over as chairman and the same day the Trump administration recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the true president of Venezuela, Engel and McCaul wrote a joint letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to prioritize the safety of U.S. diplomats in Caracas and requesting an “immediate” briefing on the unfolding events there.

Susan Crabtree is a veteran Washington reporter who has spent two decades covering the White House and Congress.

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Senators Want Iran Sanctions Relief Tied to Prisoners’ Release

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Two influential Democratic senators for the first time are urging President Trump to use sanctions relief for countries that want to do business with Iran as leverage to help secure the release of Americans unjustly imprisoned in the Islamic republic.

Sens. Tim Kaine and Chris Coons, both senior Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Trump Monday imploring him to use “all leverage possible” in trying to free Americans imprisoned in Iran and elsewhere.

Kaine and Coons called on the administration to form a multinational taskforce to combine efforts with at least 12 other nations whose citizens are also unlawfully detained in Iran.

The senators also said the administration should require countries seeking conditional waivers from U.S. economic sanctions on Iran, including Iraq, India and China, to lean on Iran to free Americans and other Western prisoners.

“The lives of these Americans are at risk,” Kaine and Coons wrote. “The United States needs to send a strong signal to Iran that it must stop taking Americans hostage. We urge you to use all leverage possible to intervene on their behalf.”

The senators wrote the letter a week after the administration issued a new round of sanctions against 16 individuals and 15 entities in Iran they determined are involved in trying to reconstitute past nuclear-weapons work.

Earlier this month, several members of Congress who support the Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran were angered over an administration decision to grant Iraq a major reprieve on Iran sanctions by allowing Baghdad to continue buying electricity from Tehran through a 90-day waiver.

Several Capitol Hill lawmakers and advocates for the Americans imprisoned in Iran want the administration to condition any and all Iran sanctions waivers, especially those involving oil sales, on the prisoners’ release.

The letter from Kaine and Coons is the first tangible sign of a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill for more concrete steps to try to secure the Americans’ release.

There are at least six Americans imprisoned or missing in Iran, including Michael White, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who was in Iran visiting his girlfriend on a valid tourist visa. White went missing in July.

At least three hostages were taken during the Obama administration while Washington and Tehran, along with several U.S. allies, finalized the nuclear deal in late 2015 and early 2016. In January of 2016, four other U.S. hostages were released from Iran at the same time as the Obama administration made a controversial $400 million cash payment to the regime, leading some Republicans to deem the payment ransom and argue that it encouraged more hostage-taking.  

The three Americans who were imprisoned in late 2015 were left behind. President Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal last May, severing nearly all diplomatic contact between Washington and Tehran.

Before the Kaine-Coons letter, Republican hardliners on Iran such as Sen. Ted Cruz were far more vocal in support of measures to punish Tehran for imprisoning Americans. Last year, the House passed a bill, the Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, that would impose sanctions on Iranian officials responsible for the detention of Americans and other foreign nationals. Cruz sponsored similar legislation that would revoke U.S. visas to family members of Iranian officials who detain Americans.

The Kaine-Coons letter was sent just days before a major Trump administration event aimed at responding to concerns raised by families of Americans imprisoned in Iran and elsewhere about the lack of progress on their loved ones' cases. The families are frustrated by the impasse as they’ve watched the president hail the safe return of several Americans held in North Korea, Turkey and Yemen.

On Tuesday Vice President Mike Pence hosted an emotional gathering at the White House with families of Americans detained in Venezuela, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sat down with relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents held in Iran, Venezuela and other countries to try to reassure them the administration is doing all it can to free their loves ones.

The Pompeo meeting came three weeks after relatives of four Americans held in Iran pleaded for a sit-down meeting with President Trump during a House hearing marking the 12th anniversary of the disappearance of former FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson was last seen on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007 and is the longest-held hostage in American history.

After privately speaking with the families, Pompeo publicly addressed a larger gathering, which included congressmen, senators, ambassadors and other officials gathered at the State Department.

Pompeo thanked the families for attending and spoke about their deeply personal struggles to win their loved ones’ release. He said he regretted that the gathering had taken so long to organize and made a “personal commitment” to work every day to “deliver every wrongfully detained American home.”

He also underscored how committed President Trump and his administration are to the mission of securing the release of Americans wrongfully imprisoned abroad. Pompeo said he has witnessed Trump’s personal interest in hostage cases during his time as director of the CIA, and now as secretary of state.

“The president asks every week for an update,” Pompeo told the families in public remarks. “He wants to know the status; he wants to know what we’re doing and why we haven’t been more successful. He is personally invested in the safe return of each and every one of them.”

Robert O’Brien, the State Department’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, said he and his team asked the families to come to Washington for the meeting so they could “know and feel the deep commitment we have to bringing [their loves ones] home.”

“For those of you here today who’ve lost loved ones at the hands of evil men, evil terrorist organizations, and evil regimes, we asked you here because we want to know that your loss will never be forgotten,” he said. “We want you to know that you have a community here at the State Department; we support you and we love you.”

O’Brien said he and his team along with the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, created during the Obama administration and headquartered at the FBI, are solely devoted to bringing “our fellow-citizens home.”

Pompeo said the mission of freeing Americans held hostage by U.S. enemies is a deeply personal one to him. He then referenced the biblical story about the Apostle Peter’s being freed by an angel the night before his likely execution at the hands of King Herod’s regime.

“Those of you who know this verse know it’s an incredible moment,” Pompeo said. “Peter was rescued the night before he was to face judgement and likely execution. But his hope and faith allowed him to walk free.”

He said he understands that rescued hostages “feel Like Peter must have felt, like they’ve received an act of God.” But he also acknowledged that there are too many Americans held abroad that have not been saved as Peter was.

“Sometimes, our efforts fail, or they don’t produce the results as quickly as they deserve,” Pompeo said. He then cited the tragic deaths of several hostages held by ISIS and other U.S. enemies, including Jim Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Otto Warmbier.

“Their families were all with us today,” he said. “I want to personally thank them for being here.”

Earlier Tuesday, Pence met with family members of six Citgo executives detained by the Maduro government in Venezuela. Authorities in Caracas arrested the executives, five of whom are American citizens, during corporate meetings in the capital in November 2017.

Threatening additional sanctions against Maduro and his associates, Pence reiterated the administration’s deep concern for the welfare and safety of all detained American citizens abroad and called on the embattled Venezuelan leader to release an estimated 280 known political prisoners.

The vice president promised the family members that “we are with you — we are going to stand with you until your loved ones are free, until Venezuela is free.”

He read the names of the detained executives and said the Maduro government is blocking any communication between them and their family members, citing 16 cancelled meetings.

Veronica Fadell Weggemaan, the daughter of a detained Citgo executive,  said the meeting with Pence is giving her family new hope for her father’s safe return, although in recent days they have grown increasingly worried about their father’s health and safety. There has been no contact for four weeks since the electrical blackouts in the country began, she said.

Carlos Anez said his father worked for Citgo for 21 years and is now imprisoned in the basement of a counterintelligence military facility “with very little air circulation now [and] with no light and absolutely no medical care.”

“We just want them home as soon as possible,” Anez said, expressing confidence in the administration’s track record in freeing other Americans imprisoned overseas.

Susan Crabtree is a veteran Washington reporter who has spent two decades covering the White House and Congress.

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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.

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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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