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State Legislature Passes Bill Mandating Physicians to Provide Care to Babies Who Survive Abortion

The North Carolina legislature passed a bill Tuesday seeking to spell out and mandate physicians provide care to babies who survive abortion.

The state Senate first passed the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” SB359, on Monday. The House passed the bill in a 65-46 vote Tuesday, according to The News & Observer.

“Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care,” according to the legislation. Physicians who violate the bill will be charged with a Class D felony and fined up to $250,000.

North Carolina’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reacted to the bill’s passage immediately and sent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper a letter urging him to veto the legislation. The bill would “interfere with the patient-provider relationship, target health care providers, and mislead the public about safe, legal abortion care,” according to the letter.

“This extreme anti-abortion bill shamelessly inserts political ideology into the practice of medicine, replacing health care providers’ best judgment with that of politicians,” North Carolina ACLU Senior Policy Counsel Susanna Birdsong said.

The governor’s spokesman, Ford Porter, also criticized the bill, saying in a statement, “This unnecessary legislation would criminalize doctors for a practice that simply does not exist.”

“Laws already exist to protect newborn babies and legislators should instead be focused on other issues like expanding access to health care to help children thrive,” Porter said, according to the Observer.


Abortion is murder, and these are the facts.

Republican Rep. Sarah Stevens applauded the bill’s passage, the Observer reported. “Nurses, doctors, if you see something, you have a duty to report. And that’s a big part of this bill,” Stevens said.

The born-alive bill’s passage comes after U.S. District Judge William Osteen struck down in late March a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, ruling that a “week-or event-specific” ban is not constitutional, Reuters reported. Legal abortions may occur to the point of viability as determined by a presiding physician under Osteen’s ruling.

South Carolina nearly passed a law banning all abortions except those performed in the case of rape, incest and to save the mother’s life, but the bill died in the state’s Senate.

A number of states have passed bills restricting abortion access. Arkansas, North Dakota, Iowa, Mississippi and Kentucky have proposed bills or enacted laws outlawing abortion in the presence of a fetal heartbeat. Many of the abortion bans, however, have remained ineffective following court orders prohibiting enforcement, Cleveland.com reported.

SB359 now heads to Cooper’s desk for signature. He will likely veto the measure.


Dr. Nick Begich joins Alex Jones live in studio to break down why the globalists, as they consolidate power into the hands of corporate interests worldwide, fear the individual.

Source: InfoWars

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Figure skating: Chinese pair take crown, Russians second and third

ISU World Figure Skating Championships
ISU World Figure Skating Championships - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan - March 21, 2019. China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong in action during the Pairs Free Skating. REUTERS/Issei Kato

March 21, 2019

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – China’s Olympic silver medalists Sui Wenjing and Han Cong took the pairs skating crown at the World Championships on Thursday after a breathtaking free skate at the Saitama Super Arena.

Despite a season blighted by injury, the 2017 world champions skated a lyrical, moving program for a season’s best 155.60 (234.84 combined), drawing a packed crowd to its feet with their clean jumps and gorgeous lifts.

“This has been a difficult year for us, we’ve had injuries and other issues,” said Sui, who laughed as Han pumped his fists at the end of the routine.

“But our coaches and team gave us support that we were able to turn into strength.”

Russians filled out the rest of the podium with second place going to Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov after a regal but mistake-marred program that included the latter putting his hand to the ice in the wake of their Triple toe loop.

“In the free program it was tough and we had to fight for every single element,” Morozov said after their routine, which garnered a season’s best 147.26 for a total of 228.47.

“It was totally different to yesterday, we were struggling to get everything right.”

Third place went to Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert, whose dynamic program earned them 144.02 and a combined total of 217.98.

European champions Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres, favorites going into the worlds after an undefeated season, were only able to manage fifth.

Frenchwoman James collided with Italian skater Matteo Guarise during warm ups for the short program on Wednesday and fell after a botched landing in their routine.

“Worlds hasn’t been our best friend, I fell on the twist in the short program once and I fell on the triple Salchow before, but we know that each time we are getting stronger,” said Canadian-born James.

Cipres echoed her determination.

“I think we did our job today and we are never giving up. We won’t give up until we get the world title.”

The World Championships continue at the arena north of Tokyo until March 23, with the most-watched contest – the men’s singles – beginning later on Thursday.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Nick Mulvenney)

Source: OANN

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Telecoms group Orange strikes cautious tone as French price war lingers on

FILE PHOTO - The logo of French telecom operator Orange is seen on the facade of the Velodrome stadium in Marseille
FILE PHOTO - The logo of French telecom operator Orange is seen on the facade of the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, France, September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier/File Photo

February 21, 2019

By Mathieu Rosemain and Gwénaëlle Barzic

PARIS (Reuters) – Orange, France’s number one telecoms operator, struck a cautious tone for 2019 due to a protracted price war in its home country and few chances that a merger between its rivals might improve market conditions.

Orange expected core operating profit to grow at a slower pace in 2019 than 2018, despite a good performance in its home country and in its second-biggest market, which is Spain.

That guidance may further fuel scepticism shown by investors over the past few months about Europe’s telecoms sector, which has underperformed compared to major benchmark indices.

“Today’s competitive environment has intensified and shows no sign of waning, so it inevitably has an impact on our capacity to generate growth,” Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez said in a call with reporters, referring to France.

Orange and its French rivals Iliad, Bouygues Telecom and Altice Europe’s SFR are engaged in a commercial race to win customers for their fixed and mobile businesses, while also having to spend at the same time billions of euros on upgrading their networks.

HEAVY DISCOUNTS

Iliad was first to trigger the price war in 2012 when it offered its low-cost mobile services, with direct consequences on its competitors’ margins. But heavy discounts are now also seen in the broadband business.

The prospect of further spending needed to buy radio frequencies for the deployment of the fifth-generation of mobile technology, or 5G, is also weighing on investors’ sentiment towards telecoms stocks.

Several attempts to cut the number of French telecom operators from four to three, with expected positive impact on prices, have failed, and Fernandez is not expecting such a deal to happen any time soon.

“It would be a big surprise if it happened right now,” he said.

In that context, Orange managed anyhow to post a better-than-expected quarterly operating profit, mainly driven by higher revenues in France and Spain and cost cuts.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 1.4 percent on a comparable basis to 3.33 billion euros ($3.77 billion) for the period, above market expectations for growth of 0.6 percent.

Orange’s boss, Stephane Richard, said he will present a new strategic plan this year, dubbed “Vision 2025”.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by GV De Clercq/Sudip Kar-Gupta)

Source: OANN

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California bill aims to appoint public health official to determine vaccine exemptions

A California lawmaker recently proposed a bill that would put the decision to dole out a vaccine exemption in the hands of a state public health official – a move that has anti-vaccine supporters up in arms in a state that already has some of the toughest immunization laws in the country.

California state Sen. Richard Pan introduced late last month Senate Bill 276, which if approved would take the decision to grant vaccine exemptions out of the hands of doctors and put it under control of state health officials. Pan, who before turning to politics was a pediatrician, brought forth the legislation in response to reports that some doctors in the state are abusing their power and selling medical exemptions to parents.

“Medical exemptions have more than tripled since the passage of SB 277. Some schools are reporting that more than 20 percent of their students have a medical exemption,” Pan said in a statement. “It is clear that a small number of physicians are monetizing their exemption-granting authority and profiting from the sale of medical exemptions.”

Pan’s legislation also comes as the United States has seen a rise in the number of measles cases nationwide, with California being one of the hardest hit areas for the contagious, but preventable disease.

NYC MEASLES OUTBREAK: FIRST VACCINATION FINES, 4 MORE SCHOOLS SHUT DOWN

Health officials at the University of California, Davis Medical Center last month warned around 200 people about a potential exposure to the measles virus in its emergency room, and there are reports that travelers with measles have recently passed through Los Angeles International Airport – one of the nation’s busiest travel hubs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday announced that measles outbreaks have continued to spike this year – putting 2019 on track to break a record for number of cases since it was declared eliminated in the U.S. back in 2000.

While Pan argues that the new measure would thwart fraud attempts by families and doctors, and keep communities in California safe from preventable diseases, anti-vaccine and pro-informed consent advocates have labeled the move “modern tyranny” and a move by California lawmakers to reach a 100 percent vaccination rate in the state.

A group of doctors, alternative healthcare practitioners and members of parental rights groups traveled on Wednesday to Sacramento to voice their anger and opposition to the bill, which was scheduled to be discussed in the Senate.

LAX TRAVELERS WARNED ABOUT POSSIBLE MEASLES EXPOSURE AGAIN 

“A law that prevents a doctor from using his professional judgement is immoral and dangerous,” Barbara Loe Fisher, the co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, told Fox News. “[Supporters of SB 276] are more concerned about achieving a 100 percent vaccination rate in California than they are about these children who are vulnerable of being injured or dying from a vaccine.”

Fisher did not attend the rally in Sacramento.

There have been cases in the past of children getting sick, and even dying, from being vaccinated, but according to public health records these cases are rare and for the vast majority of those immunized the only issues that arise – if any – are mild symptoms similar to the disease the vaccine is trying to prevent.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The CDC reported that a serious allergic reaction and infection related to a vaccine occurs in one out of every million doses administered.

SB 276 is not the first piece of legislation in California to try to bring up the state’s vaccination rate.

In 2015, the state passed SB 277 – another piece on legislation led by Pan - that did away with the personal belief exemption from a list of approved reasons not to immunize a child. It is now mandatory for a child to be vaccinated to attend school in the state and parents cannot rely on the argument of religious or philosophical convictions to not inoculate their children.

Source: Fox News Politics

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U.S. core capital goods orders unexpectedly fall in December

People look at Deere equipment as they attend National Farm Machinery show in Louisville
People look at Deere equipment as they attend National Farm Machinery show in Louisville, Kentucky, February 11, 2016. With U.S. farmers bracing for a third year of declining incomes, many have said they cannot afford upgrades.That means tough times for Deere & Co and rivals AGCO Corp, CNH Industrial NV and Claas KGaA mbH. Picture taken February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Meredith Davis

February 21, 2019

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) – New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods unexpectedly fell in December amid declining demand for machinery and primary metals, pointing to a further slowdown in business spending on equipment that could crimp economic growth.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.7 percent. Data for November was revised down to show these so-called core capital goods orders falling 1.0 percent instead of declining 0.6 percent as previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core capital goods orders rising 0.2 percent in December. Core capital goods orders increased 6.1 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Shipments of core capital goods rose 0.5 percent in December after an unrevised 0.2 percent drop in the prior month. Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement.

While the rebound in core capital goods shipments suggests moderate growth in business spending on equipment in the fourth quarter, the surprise drop in orders points to weakness in the months ahead.

The December report was delayed by a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government that ended on Jan. 25. The Commerce Department said the “processing and data quality were monitored throughout, and response and coverage rates were at or above normal levels for this release.”

The mixed report came on the heels of data last week showing a steep decline in retail sales in December, which prompted economists to slash their GDP growth estimates for the fourth quarter by as much as 1.2 percentage points to a 1.5 percent annualized rate. The economy grew at a 3.4 percent pace in the third quarter.

The slowdown in business spending has been acknowledged by the Federal Reserve, which has attributed it to an uncertain economic outlook amid slowing global growth, trade tensions, fading fiscal stimulus and the government shutdown.

The U.S. central bank in minutes of its Jan. 29-30 policy meeting published on Wednesday said “manufacturing contacts in a number of Districts indicated that such factors were causing them to delay or defer capital expenditures.”

Business spending on equipment has been slowing since the second quarter of 2018, despite the White House’s $1.5 trillion tax cut. Some companies including Apple used their tax windfall to buy back shares on a massive scale. A survey last month showed lower taxes had not caused companies to change hiring or investment plans.

In December, orders for machinery fell 0.4 percent. Primary metals orders dropped 0.9 percent. There were also decreases in orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components. Orders for computers and electronic products were unchanged.

Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, increased 1.2 percent in December. That reflected a 3.3 percent rise in demand for transportation equipment.

Durable goods orders gained 1.0 percent in November.

Orders for motor vehicles and parts rose 2.1 percent in December. Orders for defense aircraft fell 30.5 percent and bookings for civilian aircraft surged 28.4 percent. Boeing reported on its website that it had received 218 aircraft orders in December, a more than fourfold jump from the 51 in November.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci) ((Lucia.Mutikani@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8315; Reuters Messaging: lucia.mutikani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

Source: OANN

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Comey ‘will get to testify in the light of day,’ Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham tells Sean Hannity

During his Tuesday night appearance on Fox News' “Hannity,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed to bring former FBI Director James Comey back to Capitol Hill to testify about the origins of the Russia investigation.

“Millions of Americans believe that the top level of the Department of Justice and the FBI, they wanted Clinton to win and Trump to lose," Graham told host Sean Hannity. "They manipulated the law to let her off, manipulated the facts and the law to go after Trump and that’s a big deal to a lot of people.

“Millions of Americans believe that the top level of the Department of Justice and the FBI, they wanted Clinton to win and Trump to lose."

— U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee

“So I promise you," Graham continued, "former Director Comey will get to testify in the light of day. I’ll ask him about the dossier. Was it the chief reason you got a warrant against Carter Page, is it verified to this day? If there was a counter-intelligence investigation opened against the Trump campaign, why didn’t you tell Trump about it so he could do something, like you told Feinstein?

"And at the end of the day," the senator added, "how could you write that Clinton did nothing wrong even before you interviewed her, and why did you interview her with two people in the room -- her aides -- and not under oath? Most people don’t get that treatment."

"Why did you interview [Clinton] with two people in the room -- her aides -- and not under oath? Most people don’t get that treatment."

— U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee

Graham then clarified the parameters of his role in leading the judiciary committee.

“It’s not my job to find out if crimes were committed," he said. "It’s my job [to provide] oversight of the executive branch. Did they bend the rules, did the break the rules to get an outcome? Did they mislead the FISA court, do we need to change the rules about FISA courts?”

“Are there any rules at all about counter-intelligence operations? Why did you not tell Trump? You told Feinstein she had somebody on her staff working with China, why didn’t you go to Trump to tell him about suspicions about Russia? Was it a backdoor attempt to get into his campaign?”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Graham repeated his call for a special prosecutor to investigate the investigators.

“Some prosecutor, not a politician, needs to look at Comey, [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe, and all of these characters to find out if in fact they broke the law,” Graham continued. “I’m hoping Attorney General [William] Barr will assign somebody to this case with the same resources and commitment to look at them as Mueller had to look at Trump.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Philippines gets $9.8 billion FDI in 2018, posts first drop in three years

Man counts wad of Philippine Peso bills in Makati
A man counts a wad of Philippine Peso bills he received from a relative working abroad at a money remittance center in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

March 11, 2019

MANILA (Reuters) – Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Philippines fell for the first time in three years in 2018 to $9.8 billion, nearly 4.5 percent lower than prior year’s record inflow, the central bank data showed on Monday.

Net FDI in 2017 had hit an all-time high of $10.26 billion.

Equity capital investment in 2018 dropped to $2.3 billion from $3.4 billion the year before. A bulk of these inflows came from Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, and China, and channelled mainly to manufacturing, financial, real estate, and a few other sectors.

Investment in debt instruments rose 11 percent to $6.7 billion from $6.0 billion in 2017.

Despite it being one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, the Philippines lags regional peers in terms of attracting foreign direct investments because of foreign ownership restrictions, high power costs and poor infrastructure.

The Philippines’ 2018 FDI figure pales in comparison with the $29.3 billion and $19.1 billion that Indonesia and Vietnam respectively received last year.

Late last year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order further liberalizing investment rules to lure much needed foreign capital and help boost economic growth.

The order removed ownership restrictions and further opened up certain sectors and activities such as construction and repair of locally-funded public works projects to foreigners.

(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)

Source: OANN

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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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