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Security upgrades for Texas school district include AR-15's, tracking IDs: 'We're not playing around'

TEXAS CITY, TEXAS -- Tracking IDs, facial recognition technology, 22 AR-15’s. These are just some of the security measures that schools in this district will see in the coming months, marking what some say is likely the most comprehensive plan for a school district.

“We’re not playing around. This isn’t some kind of little game to us. We put a lot of time, money, and effort into this,” said Dr. Rodney Cavness, superintendent of schools for the Texas City Independent School District.

Cavness said district officials took on the initiative last year, days after the shooting in nearby Santa Fe High School. The shooting, which happened minutes down the road from Texas City, left 10 people dead.

Texas City Independent School District has 22 AR-15s. Each deputy of every school is assigned one, and it is kept in a safe that can only be accessed with a code. 

Texas City Independent School District has 22 AR-15s. Each deputy of every school is assigned one, and it is kept in a safe that can only be accessed with a code.  (Fox News)

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“I think we’re living in a sick society, and there are some very deeply troubled people out there that want to do harm to kids and to campuses and to teachers, and we’re not going to let that happen,” said Cavness.

Cavness created a new position for security and school safety and hired Mike Matranga, who drew from more than 12 years of experience as a Secret Service agent to formulate a plan.

Some of the measures have already been implemented. Students and staff wear radio frequency identification cards, capable of tracking their whereabouts in school. They’ve lined glass doors with intrusion filming, making them impact resistant.

“What we’re trying to do is buy time, and by buying time and by having a deputy on campus or multiple deputies on campus, that time allows our deputies to respond and do their job,” said Matranga.

Every deputy in each school also receives an AR-15, which is kept in a safe that can only be unlocked with a code.

Radio frequency identification cards track the locations of students and staff.

Radio frequency identification cards track the locations of students and staff. (Fox News)

HOW CAN THE U.S. DO A BETTER JOB OF KEEPING KIDS SAFE AT SCHOOL

“These are the weapons we purchased for our deputies. I’m a firm believer that we fight firepower with superior firepower,” said Matranga.

In May, Texas City voters approved a $6.5 million bond for safety and security measures.

“I would vote for anything in favor of protecting my children,” said Justin Graves, a parent with a child at Heights Elementary School.

“I’m in support of the security measures they implemented. It gives me a sense of security,” said Trisha Jones, who also has children at the school.

Within the last year, several schools across the country rolled out or approved funding for security upgrades. Santa Fe High School put up metal detectors and hired more officers. Schools in Wisconsin received safety grants from the state last year, and many used the money to install security cameras and new classroom door handles. In Florida, Broward County outlined security plans last summer in response to the Parkland shooting.

Ken Trump, president of National School and Security Services and no relation to the U.S. president, said Texas City’s security measures seem to be the most intensive for a school district.

TCISD says it hopes to implement the security measures in all of its 14 schools by May.

TCISD says it hopes to implement the security measures in all of its 14 schools by May. (Fox News)

“This district seemed to gather a lot of attention because they put a whole lot of money in a short period of time,” said Trump.

But, he has concerns.

“The question isn’t really whether school safety is the top priority now, but six months down the road when the memories of Parkland fade, will there be the same investment not only in time and dollars but the people?” said Trump.

Ed Scruggs, vice chair of Texas Gun Sense, said certain technological features like facial recognition and new door locks will be effective. But, he said, other preventative measures outside of a school environment are also necessary.

“More universal background checks on gun sales, better mental health, better background check system… if we can keep guns out of the hands of people that shouldn’t have them, we’re going to automatically be safer,” said Scruggs.

Meanwhile, Matranga said he believes there is no substitute to having eyes and ears on the ground and reporting suspicious behavior. Ultimately, he said, teachers are the best line of defense.

“It’s not about the camera system. It’s not about the electronic locks. Though we’re doing that, it’s about investing in people," Matranga said, "and that’s the key.”

Source: Fox News National

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$625M Powerball drawing would be US' 7th-largest jackpot

Lottery officials say the Powerball jackpot for Saturday's drawing has climbed to an estimated $625 million, which would be the seventh-largest lottery grand prize in U.S. history.

A look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold:

1. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

2. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, South Carolina)

3. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)

4. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)

5. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets, from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)

6. $648 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 17, 2013 (two tickets, from California and Georgia)

7. $590.5 million, Powerball, May 18, 2013 (one ticket, from Florida)

8. $587.5 million, Powerball, Nov. 28, 2012 (two tickets, from Arizona and Missouri)

9. $564.1 million, Powerball, Feb. 11, 2015 (three tickets, from North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas)

10. $559.7 million, Powerball, Jan. 6, 2018 (one ticket, New Hampshire)

___

Sources: AP archives, www.megamillions.com and www.powerball.com

Source: Fox News National

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Ocasio-Cortez declares VA ‘isn’t broken,’ already provides top-notch care

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed during a recent town hall event that the Department of Veterans Affairs “isn’t broken" and is actually providing “some of the highest quality” care to veterans.

“All I can think of is that classic refrain that my parents always taught me growing up, is that: ‘if it ain't broke, don't fix it,’" she said in New York, as part of her argument against privatizing aspects of the scandal-scarred agency's work.

VA SECRETARY WARNS TRUMP'S SIGNATURE PROGRAM COULD COLLAPSE WITHOUT FIX

"That is the opening approach we have seen when it comes to privatization, it's the idea that this thing that isn’t broken, this thing that provides some of the highest quality care to our veterans somehow needs to be fixed, optimized, tinkered with until we don’t even recognize it anymore," she said, in comments first reported by The Washington Examiner.

"They are trying to fix the VA for pharmaceutical companies, they are trying to fix the VA for insurance corporations, and, ultimately they are trying to fix the VA for a for-profit healthcare industry that does not put people or veterans first," she said. “And so we have a responsibility to protect it.”

Ocasio-Cortez's comments were aimed at Trump administration efforts to expand choice and private health care options in the VA health care system, particularly via the MISSION Act -- signed into law by President Trump last year.

The comments are likely to raise the ire of proponents advocating VA reform. The department was plagued by scandal during the Obama administration -- including secret wait lists, systemic neglect and veterans dying while waiting to see a doctor.

VA SECRETARY WILKIE: THE VA IS MAKING REAL PROGRESSION ON SUICIDE PREVENTION FOR VETERANS

“Putting our veterans first means making sure they are at the center of any reform efforts. That is exactly what the administration did with the VA MISSION Act -- put the veteran ahead of the bureaucracy," Dan Caldwell, executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, told Fox News when asked about Ocasio-Cortez's comments. "The VA is structured for a veteran population that has fundamentally changed from when it was built. Policy reforms should fundamentally change with the population and the times. When the resources follow the veteran, the veteran wins."

"When resources go to prop up an aging and outdated bureaucracy, the veteran loses. It’s not about ‘fixing’ the VA, rather it is about making sure the focus of the VA is on the veteran, not itself," he said.

Current VA Secretary Robert Wilkie is the fourth secretary to lead the VA in the past four years, while the VA’s $200 billion budget has doubled in the past decade.

Wilkie has since declared the VA to be making “groundbreaking progress,” on accountability, transparency and efficiency while touting the MISSION Act.

"Under President Trump, VA has done more in the last two years than it has in decades in reforming the department and improving care and benefits for our nation’s heroes," he said in a Fox News op-ed in January, before saying there was still work to be done on issues such as suicide prevention.

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments are part of an increasing ideological shift among Democrats questioning the benefits of private health care -- with many now pushing single-payer forms of government-run health care for the population at large.

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2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., this month unveiled his latest Medicare-for-all plan, signed onto by a number of other 2020 hopefuls. That plan would largely abolish private insurance plans -- with Sanders suggesting insurers could be reduced to cosmetic surgery.

"Under Medicare for All, we cover all basic health care needs, so they're not going to be there to do that. I suppose if you want to make yourself look a bit more beautiful, you want to work on that nose, your ears. They can do that," he said.

Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sweden decides against probing Swedbank over Browder complaint

Swedbank signs are seen on a building in Vilnius
Swedbank signs are seen on a building in Vilnius, Lithuania March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

April 1, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said on Monday it had decided against opening a probe into Swedbank in relation to a criminal complaint over money laundering allegations brought by Bill Browder, an investor campaigning to expose corruption.

Browder on March 4 filed a criminal complaint with Swedish authorities that Swedbank accounts had allegedly be used to launder money to the tune of $176 million between 2006 and 2012.

“All transfers to Swedish accounts in Swedbank are deemed to have taken place so long ago that reported acts have passed the statute of limitations,” the Swedish Economic Crime Authority said in a statement.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish, editing by Niklas Pollard)

Source: OANN

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Volvo Cars raises over $200 million from new euro bond

FILE PHOTO: A Volvo S60 is displayed during the inauguration of Volvo Cars first U.S. production plant in Ridgeville
FILE PHOTO: A Volvo S60 is displayed during the inauguration of Volvo Cars first U.S. production plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, U.S., June 20, 2018. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo

February 20, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s Volvo Cars issued a bond worth 2 billion Swedish crowns ($214.65 million), it said on Wednesday, just five months after the Chinese-owned carmaker terminated plans to list itself blaming trade tensions and a downturn in automotive stocks.

The funds from the bond sale add to Volvo’s coffers at a time when carmakers need cash to develop electric and driverless cars and also face mounting costs from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war and slowdown in large auto markets China and Europe.

Volvo, which is developing Polestar as an electrified performance brand and owns a stake in Chinese owner Geely’s stablemate Lynk & Co, has repeatedly said it will finance electric and autonomous vehicle development from existing cash flows.

The new bond, which matures in February 2023 and pays a floating coupon of STIBOR plus 2.30 percent, will be used for general corporate purposes and not for a specific project, a Volvo spokesman said on Wednesday.

The bond was issued under Volvo’s Euro Medium Term Note program and Handelsbanken, Nordea and SEB acted as bookrunners on the transaction.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Stockholm; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Source: OANN

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Ghost workers sap Tunisia’s phosphate wealth

A bulldozer transports a treated phosphate to be put in wagons at a phosphate production plant in Metlaoui
A bulldozer transports a treated phosphate to be put in wagons at a phosphate production plant in Metlaoui, Tunisia February 8, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

March 9, 2019

By Tarek Amara

METLAOUI, Tunisia – Tunisia’s state phosphate firm CPG pays Abdel-Basset Klifhi a salary of $280 a month, even though he spends most days in his favorite cafe in the southern town of Metlaoui.

He is one of 21,000 people taken on by the Companie des Phosphates de Gafsa (CPG) since Tunisia’s autocrat president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011.

Since then, the economy has been in crisis and CPG has lost its spot as the country’s top exporter. Unemployment, inflation and deficits have shot up and the value of the dinar currency has plummeted. Loans from the International Monetary Fund have kept the government afloat.

CPG’s hiring spree brought its total workforce to about 30,000 and aimed to reduce the number of unemployed to stop protests destabilizing the transition to democracy. Thousands more are still jobless, however, and some block roads to CPG daily to demand work. Others on the payroll want pay rises and frequently go on strike.

Phosphate production has halved since 2011 and CPG’s losses have accumulated as the wage bill grew. Employees point to other inefficiencies at the company.

CPG’s declining fortunes have highlighted the government’s failure to reform the bloated state companies that dominate the economy and have put Tunisia on a collision course with international donors.

They have also deprived the government of crucial export revenues needed to turn the economy around and create real jobs to end the daily protests and unrest, which largely target CPG.

“I get 850 dinars ($279.62) a month without doing any work,” said former protestor and CPG employee Abdul-Basset.

The company spends about $70 million a year of its $180 million annual budget on salaries, Industry and Energy Minister Slim Feriani told Reuters. His ministry oversees CPG.

“The hirings that took place after the revolution years were aimed at buying social peace but increased the suffering of the company,” he said.

“We are aware that they are not doing anything.”

IMF DELAYS

He said the company has lost almost $1 billion a year since 2011 because of disruption caused by the protests. It has only had 4,500 production days out of a possible 14,000 at its five mines since 2011, according to company documents seen by Reuters.

“This…could have prevented us from borrowing from the IMF,” said Feriani.

Phospates accounted for about 10 percent of Tunisia’s exports before 2011, when olive oil replaced it as the top export. In 2018 phosphate had shrunk to about 4 percent.

Tunisia agreed a $2.6 billion loan with the IMF in 2016. So far four installments worth $1.4 billion have been paid but each one was delayed because reforms fell behind the agreed program. Public sector salaries and reform of public companies were among the sticking points with the IMF.

Analysts expect a new confrontation with the lender after the government raised salaries at public companies, including CPG, state airline Tunisair, and state energy firm STEG in November.

An IMF spokeswoman said it was “in a continuous dialogue with the authorities on the policies” in the next loan review but declined to say when it would take place.

“The IMF supports the Tunisian authorities’ economic program to reduce macroeconomic imbalances, including by strengthening external competitiveness, reducing inflation, and lowering debt, and to improve job-creating growth prospects through structural reforms,” she said.

CPG’s phosphate production fell from a record 8.2 million tons in 2010 to about 3 million tons in 2018, official data showed.

In contrast, nearby Morocco raised output to 30 million tons last year from 13 million in 2010. A stable social climate allowed it to develop the industry including the use of a phosphate pipeline.

“Tunisia is no longer on the global phosphate production radar,” Feriani said.

Until 2011, Tunisia was one of the world’s top 5 producers but now stands in 11th place, far behind the leaders China, the United States, Morocco, Russia and Jordan.

CPG said it could raise production by between 5 and 6 million tons this year but only if the protests stop. In 2017, President Beji Caid Essebsi ordered the army to guard phosphate sites but has not dispersed the protests fearing a backlash.

INEFFICIENT

Some staff in the company say CPG has also lost money through other inefficiencies.

At CPG’s headquarters employees showed a Reuters team dusty, unused train carriages, purchased four years ago to ship phosphate to the coast.

“They have not been used because of a (technical) problem at the railway track near the production sites,” said CPG production director Rafaa Ben Nassib.

A CPG employee told Reuters that the company sometimes ordered replacement pieces for parts that were not broken.

Nassib said this was “wrong and unfair”. Feriani said there was no proof.

“We are constantly receiving petitions about corruption suspicions, but there is no proof of that. Yet we are seeking to strengthen corporate governance,” said Feriani.

Union officials and mining town residents say CPG also pays too much to transport phosphate to coastal plants where it is turned into fertilizer.

It costs $3 a ton to ship phosphate by train but the track is often blocked so CPG then uses truckers who charge up to $10 a ton, CPG officials say.

Feriani said he wants to upgrade the railways and eventually follow Morocco’s example and ship phosphate by pipeline.

The government has set aside $90 million for 20 new trains but this may not be enough.

Analyst Moez Joudi said the government must spend “significant sums” to repair the railways and develop transport rather than “dumping the company with imaginary jobs.”

(Editing by Ulf Laessing and Anna Willard)

Source: OANN

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Trump calls on House intelligence chairman to resign after Mueller probe

FILE PHOTO: Chairman Schiff departs after House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks to reporters as he departs after hearing testimony from Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, at a closed House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young?

March 28, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for House intelligence panel chairman Adam Schiff to resign after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not establish collusion between the 2016 election campaign and Russia.

“Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!” Trump tweeted.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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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