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Taliban ambush Afghan police convoy, killing 7

An Afghan official says the Taliban have ambushed a police convoy, setting off an hours-long battle that killed seven security forces, including a provincial police official.

Abdul Hai Khateby, the spokesman for the governor of the western Ghor province, says the attack happened Friday afternoon. He says another two police and a civilian were wounded, and that four insurgents were killed.

He says Faqir Ahmad Noori, the head of operations for the provincial police, was among those killed.

The Taliban, who effectively control nearly half the country, have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of talks with the United States aimed at ending the 17-year war.

Source: Fox News World

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US Sets Sights on China in New Electric Vehicle Push

U.S. government officials plan to meet with executives from automakers and lithium miners in early May as part of a first-of-its-kind effort to launch a national electric vehicle supply chain strategy, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

While Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc and other electric-focused automakers and battery manufacturers are expanding in the United States and investing billions in the new technology, they are reliant on mineral imports without a major push to develop more domestic mines and processing facilities. For a graphic, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2Azl09N

China already dominates the electric vehicle supply chain. It produces nearly two-thirds of the world's lithium-ion batteries - compared to 5 percent for the United States - and controls most of the world's lithium processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks prices for lithium and other commodities and is organizing the Washington, D.C., event.

U.S. imports of lithium have nearly doubled since 2014 due in part to rising demand from Tesla, SK Innovation Co and others building battery plants in the country, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We need to find ways to more efficiently develop our nation's domestic critical mineral supply because these resources are vital to both our national security and our economy," North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement to Reuters when asked about the meeting.

Hoeven and Senator Lisa Murkowski, chair of the Senate's energy committee, have been invited to attend the meeting. Officials from the U.S. Department of State, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey plan to attend, according to two of the sources.

As part of the effort, Murkowski is expected to introduce standalone legislation aimed at streamlining the permitting process for lithium and other mines, bolstering state and federal studies of domestic supplies of critical minerals and encouraging mineral recycling, among other topics, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Some of those efforts were part of broader energy legislation in prior Congresses that failed, and Murkowski hopes that similar legislation will draw broader attention to the topic, according to the source.

Five companies, including Lithium Americas Corp, are developing U.S. lithium projects that plan to use new technologies to extract the metal from clays, bromine and even oilfield waste, processes not common elsewhere and considered game-changing by some analysts. But not all of them have secured financing. For a graphic, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2CXdGWN

If all five come online by 2022 as planned, the country would produce at least 77,900 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent each year, making the country one of the world's largest lithium producers. Lithium development projects have historically faced numerous obstacles, so that production number is far from guaranteed.

"Creating a domestic electric vehicle supply chain is the perfect blueprint to make America great again," said Jesse Edmondson, chief executive officer of U.S. Critical Minerals, a start-up firm buying lithium mineral rights in the U.S. Southeast.

Representatives from Tesla, Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co plan to attend the Washington meeting and discuss with federal officials potential policy changes that could encourage development of a domestic supply chain to mine, process and supply lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite for battery manufacturers and automakers, according to the sources.

Tesla and GM did not respond to requests for comment.

A Ford spokesperson said that the company regularly engages with stakeholders on various supply chain topics.

Albemarle Corp and Livent Corp, two U.S.-based companies that mine lithium in South America, also plan to attend, as do executives from the handful of lithium mines under development in the United States, according to the sources.

"We are looking forward to participating in a forum with policy makers and industry participants who are focused on ensuring the U.S. remains a leader in the development of the electric vehicle industry," said Paul Graves, CEO of Livent, which has said it is eyeing expansion opportunities.

Albemarle, which operates the only existing lithium mine in the United States, declined to comment.

The one-day meeting will be divided into morning workshops focused on financing and permitting obstacles, with one-on-one afternoon meetings between regulators and industry executives, according to the sources.

"We're trying to make sure policymakers have an understanding of this complex situation," said James Calaway, chairman of ioneer Ltd, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada that also hold a large concentration of boron, used in a plethora of consumer goods.

In Arkansas, Standard Lithium Ltd is developing a pilot project to extract lithium from the bromine waste of a Lanxess AG chemical facility.

"We have an opportunity to take a huge step forward in lithium production, and we want to support that," Asa Hutchinson, the governor of Arkansas, told Reuters.

Hutchinson and some other U.S. officials want U.S. lithium projects to stand alone without financial support from the government, a potential impediment as financiers often look for even tacit government support before investing in new, unproven technologies.

"There's a real opportunity in the electric vehicle supply chain if the United States wakes up," said Jonathan Evans, president of Lithium Americas, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada expected to open by 2022.

Source: NewsMax America

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4 toddlers found in squalid Dallas apartment, father arrested: report

Four young boys were found Saturday inside a squalid Dallas apartment and their father was arrested, a report said.

Police were reportedly alerted after a neighbor said she spotted an unaccompanied 3-year-old wearing a t-shirt and one shoe in 40-degree weather.

Robert Preston, who was identified in The Dallas Morning News as the boys' father, was arrested on an unrelated active parole-violation warrant. He reportedly told police that he needed to check on the other children as he entered the squad car.

The officers searched Preston’s apartment and found three other boys: a 2-year-old, a 5-year-old, and the 3-year-old’s twin brother, the report said. The apartment “reeked of feces” and had no furniture, the paper reported, citing the affidavit. 

SOUTH CAROLINA MOM, BOYFRIEND ALLEGEDLY TORTURED KIDS, 5 AND 7, WITH HOT SAUCE AND PEPPERS

The officers reportedly said the kitchen sink "smelled like a dead animal." One of the boys reportedly used a crusty SunnyD bottle as a cup. The boys, who did not know their own names referred to each other as Robert, the report said. The officers found a malnourished puppy in a closet covered in feces and it appeared that the kids were unaware it was there, the report said, citing the affidavit.

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The boys were put in the care of Child Protective Services and the puppy was seized by animal control, the report said. Preston was in custody at the Dallas County jail as of Thursday. His bail was set at $80,000 and he faces four counts of child endangerment.

Source: Fox News National

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Who Decides What News Is Fake News?

"Full Measure" host Sharyl Attkisson reports on efforts to improve "media literacy," and asks whether groups whose goal is to expose media bias have their own biases.

President Trump: I think that the BuzzFeed piece was a disgrace to our country.

Jeffrey Toobin: The press screwed up and they should apologize and you know the media isn’t as great as it thinks it is. This is a bad day for the news media. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: BuzzFeed stands by its report.

Whatever the case, it underscores how it’s getting harder to separate fact from fiction in the news. Now, there are unprecedented efforts by third parties— to curate information for you.

Some even want to give lessons to first graders on how to sort through fake news— between math and reading.

Person on street: I think children or young adults need to be informed about how to decipher what is real news and not.

Person on street: I think everyone, not just high school students, everyone should get educated about what to believe and not believe with the media.

Person on street: We really have to understand who you're hearing it from, why they may be telling you what they're telling you and generate your own viewpoints from there.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Do you think there is a way for the government or third parties to get involved in curating our information for us so that we can really read factual information? Or is that just a no win proposition?

KATY GRIMES: I think the answer is absolutely no. It's a no-win proposition.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Katy Grimes is an investigative journalist in California — one of the states where lawmakers have been pushing for new laws to root out “fake news” and teach media literacy in public schools. The question is — who decides what’s real when it’s a matter in dispute.

KATY GRIMES: I think we, we've seen a lot of history in the past when you've got governments that try to control media. We've got governments around the world still trying to control media and it's limiting what the populations who live there get.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Is it sort of a new trend in your experience to see government stepping in and saying that it has a role to play in helping sort through or curate information for us?

KATY GRIMES: Yes. This seems to be a very new role and it's extremely disturbing. They're trying to pass a bill that would require schools to teach children some idea of what fake news is. And I think that's just a giant red flag.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: President Obama first drew national attention to the notion that somebody needed to start curating information. It was less than a month before the 2016 election. Liberal interests had already introduced the phrase “fake news” to criticize campaign-driven conspiracy theories.

President Obama: We are going to have to rebuild within this wild-wild-west-of-information flow some sort of curating function that people agree to.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: With the President’s announcement, an organized effort grew. According to the advocacy group "Media Literacy Now," which is pushing for new laws, 10 states considered media literacy legislation last year alone. Sponsors of 3 California bills, Senators Richard Pan, Hannah-Beth Jackson and Bill Dodd, wouldn’t sit down for interviews to discuss their proposals with us. Ultimately, only one of the bills was signed into law: one requiring the state to provide media literacy resources for public school teachers. We did get the chance to talk to California Senator John Moorlach, who told us the legislative efforts are politically-driven.

There are proposals to teach media literacy in public schools. What is your feeling about that?

JOHN MOORLACH: Well, two things. One is: the state legislature has not reacted well to the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States. So, there are a lot of barbs that keep being thrown that way. But two, our educational system isn't something to brag about necessarily. I'd be happy if we could teach our kids to read, you know, do math and, and understand, you know, basic science concepts, than to worry about fake news.

MICKEY HUFF: I like to give at least some benefit of the doubt that there are some people involved in these efforts that have integrity and are well-intentioned.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: California-based “Project Censored,” a media watchdog group, has been teaching college-focused media literacy since 1976. Director Mickey Huff is wary of some of the newer efforts.

MICKEY HUFF: I can't, however, help but be suspicious because the way in which that, that these things have been rolled out and “media literacy” is now a buzz phrase, right? The whole fighting of fake news has become a Trojan horse to propel other agendas. And in the name of telling us what is fake news, we're also seeing more censorship, whether, again, it's algorithmically through bots, through filter bubbles, whether it's outsourcing fact checkers, right? Like Snopes or Politifact.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: But do you suspect there are special interest behind some of these efforts that are actually trying to shape opinion and do the opposite of what they say they're trying to do?

MICKEY HUFF: Absolutely. And the name of fighting fake news is purposely suppressing certain views, certain narratives, certain sources. And so at Project Censored, we believe that that is a very problematic effort. It, unfortunately, does get to masquerade in sort of a “do good” capacity. In other words, who's going to be against media literacy if we're trying to fight fake news?

SHARYL ATTKISSON: It sounds good.

MICKEY HUFF: Sounds fantastic. Until you realize how certain groups are doing it.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: On the front lines are college students like Edward Jacobs. He took an independent pilot course in media literacy last year while he was in high school. What did he learn? To be skeptical of the curators.

EDWARD JACOBS: The very idea that there should be some middlemen curating what ideas we're exposed to is very dangerous. Even if it were someone who agreed with what our personal opinions were, that would in effect restrict us from being exposed to many different viewpoints and that’s really something that our country doesn't need, especially among the youth demographic today.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: It’s Phil Dunn who taught the high school course that Eddie took. As a student of media manipulation and author of “Media Collusion,” Dunn says the key is critical thinking, not pushing curated views.

PHIL DUNN: When you talk about media literacy that the people that want to teach that are oftentimes invested in certain kind of legacy media outfits, the New York Times, The Washington Post, the big three networks, CNN, Fox, all of them would love to tell you what to listen to and, and how to listen to it. And I think you can throw in Google and Facebook as well because it's on the right side and it's chosen and may be censored and maybe curated, you know, we put quotes around curated.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: To be clear, in your class, you don't teach the kids, “rely on this source, go to the New York Times, trust the Washington Post or Fox News?”

PHIL DUNN: Nope.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: What do you teach them instead?

PHIL DUNN: How to look, where to look. What to discover about who's telling you what's fake and what's not. I mean, there's a chapter on Snopes in there and Snopes has its own people that have their own bias.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Perhaps best put we may need media literacy instruction to determine which media literacy efforts are genuine. And which may be just attempts to shape and manipulate.

What would your advice be to people who hear what sound like well-meaning efforts to curate their information, to sort out fake news, to make kids understand media literacy by teaching them in elementary school or middle school or high school?

MICKEY HUFF: I would say, well, one of the basic things is who benefits from that education? Who's forming the curriculum, who's funding it? If it's coming through government, who's funding the particular sponsors of the bills? Who has a seat at the table? And I think the only thing that we really have at the end of the day is our own capacity to think critically and independently.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: One new media literacy effort is called MediaWise, which aims to educate teens with social media and a teacher curriculum developed by Stanford. They've started a teen fact-checking network and are working with YouTube to produce videos. MediaWise is funded by Google.

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Mitt Romney Questions Report of Herman Cain Fed Nomination

Hours after it was reported President Donald Trump intends to nominate former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, raised issue with it.

"I doubt that will be a nomination. But if it were a nomination, you can bet [what] the interest rates he would be pushing for," Romney told Politico.

"If Herman Cain were on the Fed, you'd know the interest rate would soon be 9-9-9."

Romney was referring to Cain's proposal from his 2012 presidential campaign that would erase all existing taxes and implement a 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent federal sales tax, and a 9 percent corporate tax.

Cain previously served as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1995-1996. He also worked as the chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986-1996.

Bloomberg reported earlier Thursday that Trump plans to nominate Cain and Stephen Moore, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, for two open Federal Reserve Board seats. Both men are Trump supporters.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for raising interest rates, and Bloomberg News reported in December that Trump had even discussed firing him. One way the president can directly influence monetary policy is through nominations to the Fed board, though anyone he picks must be confirmed by the Senate.

Material from Bloomberg was used in this report.

Source: NewsMax America

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Thousands at funeral for Bosnian govt critic slain in ambush

Thousands of people in Bosnia have attended the funeral of a prominent businessman and government critic who was gunned down this week in a mafia-style ambush.

Slavisa Krunic, who owned several businesses including a private security firm, Sector Security, was buried Thursday in his home village outside the northern Bosnian city of Banja Luka. Krunic was slain Monday in a late-night ambush outside his family home by men believed to have been hired assassins.

Krunic's bodyguard and one of the attackers were also killed in the execution, which sparked a shootout. After the attack, critics of the ruling Bosnian Serb nationalist party and its hard-line leader, Milorad Dodik, have voiced fears that they too might be targeted.

Source: Fox News World

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How to lower chances of employee theft: 5 things to know

Small businesses can reduce their chances of employee theft or limit their losses by implementing technological controls and checks and balances in their daily operations.

The thin staffing at many small businesses can make them vulnerable to theft. So can small companies' tendency to have less sophisticated technology practices.

Five ways that companies can protect themselves:

— Make sure that responsibility for finances doesn't rest with only one person, says Doug Karpp, a senior vice president with insurer Hiscox. At the least, "business owners should have their bank statements sent to their home instead of the business, and given to their accountants to review," Karpp says.

— When a staffer quits or is fired, their access to the company's computer system and email should be cut off immediately. Any passwords they use should be changed. Owners may also want to consider having the staffer leave the day they give notice.

"All the things that go hand in hand with the termination of an employee in a large company, a small company needs to think of too," says Shira Forman, an employment attorney with Sheppard Mullin in New York.

— Watch out for suspicious behavior that could be a tipoff about stealing, says Rick Gibbs, a consultant with human resources provider Insperity. For example, consider a staffer who never takes vacation or days off. While they could be dedicated, they could also be trying to make sure that no one else gets to fill in for them and see what they've been doing.

— Surveillance cameras can discourage staffers from stealing property, Gibbs says. Even if a camera is not a deterrent, the owner can see who the thief was.

— If an owner suspects or is aware of a theft, they should consult with an attorney or HR provider to decide the best cause of action. They should also take steps to limit or stop the damage. In the case of a technologically savvy staffer, an owner needs to be sure the employee isn't in a position to harm the company's systems, Forman says.

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For more small business news, insights and inspiration, sign up for our free weekly newsletter here: http://discover.ap.org/ssb

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Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com

Source: Fox News National

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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