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Amid crisis, Cuba plans revamp of state and legal system

In the midst of a regional crisis over Venezuela and tough economic straits, the Cuban government is about to launch a sweeping makeover of its centrally planned, single-party system with dozens of new laws that could reshape everything from criminal justice to the market economy.

Nearly a year of debate and discussion ended last month with the approval of Cuba's first constitutional reform since 1976. Some observers see the new constitution as a merely cosmetic update aimed at assuring one of the world's last communist systems won't get another revamp until long after the passing of its founding fathers, now in their late 80s and early 90s. Others see the potential for a slow-moving but deep set of changes that will speed the modernization of Cuba's economically stagnant authoritarian bureaucracy.

Cuban legal experts told The Associated Press that they expect the government to send the National Assembly between 60 and 80 new laws over the next two years to replace ones rendered obsolete by the new constitution. The assembly is virtually certain to unanimously approve all government proposals, as it has for decades.

"I expect to see big changes in Cuba with the new constitution," said Julio Antonio Fernandez, a constitutional law professor at the University of Havana. "A new state structure, a transformed political system, led by the Communist Party, of course, but different and confronting big challenges."

One of the first changes will be in Cuba's political system. Within five months, the government is required to pass a new electoral law that splits the roles of head of state and government between the current president and the new post of prime minister. A new set of governors will replace the Communist Party first secretaries as the highest official in Cuba's 15 provinces.

While the Communist Party remains the only permitted political group, the wording of the new constitution could allow voters to choose between various candidates rather than simply voting yes or no for a candidate pre-selected by a government commission, experts said.

A new business law could create a formal role for small- and medium-sized businesses. Until now, all private workers and employers are legally classified as "self-employed," leading to situations in which hundreds of thousands of "self-employed" waiters, cooks, maids, construction workers and janitors go to work each day for the "self-employed" owners of restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and construction contractors.

Business owners hope legal recognition will bring them privileges like the right to import and export, now held only by state monopolies.

"There's a full-on effort to give life to the new constitution, to accompany it with laws so it doesn't become a dead letter," Homero Acosta, the secretary of the Cuba's Council of State and one of the key figures in the reform, said on state television this month.

A new family code is expected to address the issue of gay marriage, which was struck from the new constitution after popular resistance.

A new criminal code will for the first time create the right of habeas corpus, requiring the state to justify a citizens' detention, and give Cubans the right to know what information the government holds about them.

The revamped criminal law could also, experts said, contain stronger provisions against domestic violence, greater environmental protections and animal rights and create tougher punishments for government mismanagement and corruption.

Cuba's powerful military and intelligence ministries employ tens of thousands of agents and informants, control much of the economy and are often exempted from the rules governing civilian sectors of the government. Whether the Interior Ministry and Revolutionary Armed Forces will be subject to the new limits in the legal reform remains an open question.

Cuba is in its fourth year of expected zero to minimal growth, and the government feels increasingly threatened by the Trump administration's effort to overthrow Venezuela's Cuban-allied government as the first step in an offensive against socialist states throughout Latin America.

Only 78 percent of registered voters, some 6.8 million out of 8.7 million, said "yes" to the new constitution in a Feb. 24 referendum. That's a massive approval rate in any other country but relatively low for Cuba, where voters usually approve government proposals by margins well over 90 percent.

In this case, some 700,000 voted "no," while others abstained or filed marred or blank ballots.

That could put unusual pressure on the government to come up with new laws that win widespread public approval, rather than simply imposing new regulations after closed meetings of Communist Party and government leaders.

"The referendum showed that Cuba is a more politically diverse society than it often seems on the surface," constitutional lawyer Raudiel Pena said. "Now let's hope that lawmakers really take that into consideration."

___

Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

___

Andrea Rodríguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP

Source: Fox News World

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Nicaragua opposition leaves talks until prisoners released

The opposition Civic Alliance said Sunday that it will not return to talks with Nicaragua's government unless President Daniel Ortega's administration makes goodwill gestures like freeing prisoners.

The coalition of student, business and civic groups said in a statement that it was demanding "the freeing of political prisoners, an end to repression and kidnappings."

The alliance did not specify whether the demand was for the release of some or all of the estimated 770 people jailed by the Sandinista government following protests that started last April. Since the latest round of talks began in late February, the government has freed about 112 people on a form of conditional release.

The opposition also said it wants an end to the harassment of protesters' families and "cruel and inhuman treatment" of prisoners.

The government did not immediately respond to the statement. It has rejected previous demands to move up the 2021 elections.

The statement came a day after the government announced its own agenda for the talks, which are aimed at resolving the nearly year-old political standoff.

A Foreign Ministry statement spelled out several points including the strengthening of electoral institutions, justice and reparations, and negotiations about the suspension of international sanctions.

It said the government is "committed to the strengthening of democracy and respect for the constitutional order of Nicaragua," but pointedly noted that the date for the next general election is "established" for 2021.

During last year's protests, opponents of Ortega demanded that he leave office and allow an early and fair election. The government cracked down on demonstrations, and at least 325 people died in the unrest, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Of the 770 people the opposition considers political prisoners, the government said Saturday that it would consider freeing both those awaiting judgment and others already convicted. But it added that it would "review their case files, a situation that does not imply impunity."

Source: Fox News World

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McGill University drops ‘Redmen’ name from sports teams

McGill University has dropped the name Redmen from its varsity sports teams after receiving complaints that the name is a racial slur.

Principal Suzanne Fortier said in a statement Friday that the name had caused pain and alienation for indigenous students at the Canadian university. The change took effect immediately.

"Today, 'redmen' is widely acknowledged as an offensive term for Indigenous peoples, as evidenced by major English dictionaries," Fortier said.

In recent years, American sports teams at amateur, college and professional levels have faced similar criticisms.

Last year, the Cleveland Indians baseball team removed Chief Wahoo as its logo. Stanford, Illinois and Dartmouth are also among the colleges and universities that have dropped Native American nicknames or symbols for their teams.

However, longstanding pressure to change the name of the Washington Redskins NFL team has so far been unsuccessful.

McGill's decision comes after an internal report revealed deep divisions between students and alumni over the nearly century-old name.

Even though the Redmen name was not initially adopted as a reference to indigenous people, the association was made in the 1950s when men's and women's teams came to be nicknamed the "Indians" and "Squaws." Some teams later adopted a logo with an indigenous man wearing a headdress.

The student who led the fight against the name told The Canadian Press he was "ecstatic" at the news.

"I had expected the name change," Tomas Jirousek said in an interview from Prague. "I think if the principal had been actually listening to indigenous community members and students, I think it was the only possible option after, as she said in her email, 'the depth of pain' we feel as indigenous students at the Redmen name."

Meanwhile, a group of alumni who opposed the name change said they would never again donate to McGill and would discourage their children from applying to the school.

Source: Fox News World

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Futures dip as global growth worries linger

Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

March 25, 2019

By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures dipped on Monday, struggling to shrug off global economic slowdown worries triggered by weak factory numbers, despite a report that President Donald Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia and positive data from Germany.

S&P 500 futures initially rose on Sunday after the report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but it left unresolved the issue of whether Trump obstructed justice by undermining the investigations that have dogged his presidency.

Wall Street’s main indexes on Friday posted their biggest one-day percentage declines since Jan. 3, after a clutch of dour factory data caused the spread between yields of U.S. three-month Treasury bills to exceed those of 10-year notes for the first time since 2007.

An inverted yield curve is widely understood to be a leading indicator of recession.

On Monday, yields on the 10-year bonds rose back above three-month rates, after a rise in a key German business confidence index.

A survey showed German business morale rose unexpectedly in March after six consecutive drops, suggesting that Europe’s largest economy is likely to pick up in the coming months.

Investors will keep a close watch for developments on trade as top U.S. officials travel to Beijing for the latest round of high-level talks, scheduled to start on March 28.

At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 37 points, or 0.14 percent. S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.25 points, or 0.19 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 34 points, or 0.46 percent.

Among stocks trading premarket, Apple Inc dipped 0.3 percent ahead of an event where the company is widely expected to launch its video streaming service. The event is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET.

Akamai Technologies fell 3.8 percent after a report brokerage Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to “sell” from “hold”.

Viacom Inc’s shares rose 4 percent after company and AT&T Inc renewed their contract to continue carriage of Viacom’s services.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: OANN

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President Trump Will Shut Down Border If Democrats Don’t Fund The Wall

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Source: InfoWars

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Galaxy to face FC Dallas without Ibrahimovic

MLS: Chicago Fire at LA Galaxy
Mar 2, 2019; Carson, CA, USA; LA Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (9) reacts during the first half against the Chicago Fire at StubHub Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

March 9, 2019

The Los Angeles Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not play Saturday afternoon at FC Dallas after the striker did not travel in advance of the second regular-season MLS game for both teams.

Ibrahimovic, who scored the game-winning goal in the 80th minute of last Saturday’s season-opening victory over the Chicago Fire, has been bothered by a sore Achilles.

The Galaxy also will be without Romain Alessandrini, who came away with a hamstring injury in the game against the Fire. The Galaxy are expected to have new arrival Joe Corona on hand after he was added March 6 from Tijuana of Liga MX.

Ibrahimovic, who is in his second season with the Galaxy, scored 22 goals last season, second most in MLS.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Intruders at North Korea embassy in Spain urged official to defect: court

FILE PHOTO: A Spanish National Police car is seen outside the North Korea's embassy in Madrid
FILE PHOTO: A Spanish National Police car is seen outside the North Korea's embassy in Madrid, Spain February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Isla Binnie

MADRID (Reuters) – Intruders forced their way into North Korea’s embassy in Madrid last month, identified themselves as a human rights campaign group and tried to persuade an official there to defect, a court which specializes in organized crime said on Tuesday.

Spain’s Interior Ministry had previously said police were investigating an incident at the embassy on Feb. 22, but gave no details except to say that a North Korean citizen had been injured and that no one had filed a complaint.

A Mexican citizen who is a U.S. resident, named as Adrian Hong Chang, led the group of 10 intruders and contacted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) days afterwards to pass on information about the raid, the Spanish High Court said in an official document based on an investigation of the incident.

The group stole computers, hard disks and pen drives, it said. It was not clear how the court knew that the man had contacted the FBI.

The FBI did not respond on Tuesday to requests for comment.

Three of the intruders took an embassy official into the basement and encouraged him to defect from North Korea. They identified themselves as members of a group who campaigned for the “liberation of North Korea”, the document said.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that a dissident organization called Cheollima Civil Defense had carried out the raid.

FAKE GUNS, BALACLAVA MASKS

The Spanish court document gave a detailed account of the intruders’ movements before as well as during the intrusion, including their stay in a hotel and purchases of knives, balaclava masks and fake guns.

The group included a U.S. citizen and South Korean citizens.

There was no immediate comment on the matter from the U.S. State Department or South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Spain’s Interior Ministry declined to comment.

The embassy raid occurred shortly before the Feb. 27-28 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.

The Mexican, Hong Chang, said he had carried out the raid voluntarily and he did not identify his companions, the court document said. The court identified the U.S. citizen as Sam Ryu.

The group kept embassy staff tied up for several hours and then searched the premises for arms before leaving, at which point they separated into four groups and headed to Portugal.

Hong Chang then flew from Lisbon to New York.

In Spain the High Court has the power to investigate criminal offences, after which formal accusations are launched.

(Additional reporting by Belen Carreno, Andres Gonzalez and Sabela Ojea in Madrid, David Brunnstrom in Washington and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul, editing by Axel Bugge and Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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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.)

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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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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