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U.S. Labor Department moves to ease companies’ liability for franchisee wage violations

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta speaks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta speaks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

April 1, 2019

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday issued a proposal that would make it more difficult to prove companies are liable for the wage law violations of their contractors or franchisees, a top priority for business groups.

If adopted, the rule would likely help fast-food companies and other franchisors who have been sued by workers in recent years for wage-law violations by franchisees.

The department in 2017 had already repudiated legal guidance issued by the Obama administration that had expanded the circumstances in which a company could be considered a so-called joint employer under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta in a statement said Monday’s proposal would reduce litigation under the FLSA and provide clarity to businesses and courts. The FLSA mandates that workers be paid the minimum wage and overtime, among other requirements.

Publication of the rule kicked off a 60-day public comment period.

Under the proposal, companies would be considered joint employers only if they hire, fire, and supervise employees, set their pay, and maintain employment records. That would likely exclude many franchisors and companies that hire contract labor.

The Obama administration’s guidance included several other factors, such as the nature of the work being performed and whether workers were integral to a company’s business. That definition of joint employment had rankled the business community, which said it threatened the franchise business model and would lead to a spike in lawsuits.

Matt Haller, vice president at the International Franchise Association, a trade group, said the Obama-era rule had led to frivolous lawsuits and changed the way franchisors interacted with franchisees.

“Through this proposal, the Department of Labor has the chance to undo one of the most harmful economic regulations from the past administration,” he said.

The Obama-era regulation was not legally binding, but Monday’s proposal would be if it is adopted. That would make it more difficult for future administrations to undo, but also open it up to legal challenges.

The proposal comes as the National Labor Relations Board is moving to roll back a separate Obama-era standard for determining joint employment under federal labor law, which governs union organizing and workers’ rights to advocate for better working conditions. Under a rule the NLRB proposed in September, companies would have to possess direct control over working conditions to be considered the joint employer of franchise or contract workers.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis)

Source: OANN

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Tennis: Blistered Halep beaten by Vondrousova at Indian Wells

FILE PHOTO: Tennis: BNP Paribas Open-Day 7
FILE PHOTO: Mar 10, 2019; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Simona Halep (ROU) during her second round match against Kateryna Kozlova (not pictured) in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

March 12, 2019

(Reuters) – World number two Simona Halep was run ragged and ultimately dumped out of the BNP Paribas Open by Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova 6-2 3-6 6-2 in the fourth round at Indian Wells on Tuesday.

Halep, who received medical treatment for blisters on her foot during the match, won less than half of her first-service points and hit just six winners to go with 36 unforced errors.

The win was 19-year-old Vondrousova’s first over a top-10 player in six attempts.

Vondrousova will face either Elina Svitolina or Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals.

Another teenager, unseeded Canadian Bianca Andreescu, upset 18th seed Wang Qiang of China 7-5 6-2 to book her place in the quarters.

The win was the 18-year-old Andreescu’s 25th of the year, the most of any WTA player.

She will face Garbine Muguruza for the first time after the Spaniard battled back to dispatch Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 5-7 6-1 6-4.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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Reporter’s Notebook: How Congress could be facing not one, but two shutdowns

It's never too early to try to avoid the next government shutdown. Or the next debt ceiling crisis. Especially when:

  • The federal government recently faced three shutdowns in a little more than 15 months (albeit one for just a few hours).
  • President Trump threatened to veto spending measures twice after everyone thought they had a deal.
  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., advanced a measure through the Senate to fund the government around Christmas before Trump and House Republicans torched it.
  • The battle over immigration policy and construction of a border wall remains an epic cloud menacing the American political landscape with 19 months to go before the next presidential election.

So it should surprise no one that McConnell announced earlier this month that he had discussed the possibility of a broad bipartisan, bicameral, two-year, spending arrangement with Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"I'm hoping this will be the beginning of a bipartisan agreement, which will be necessary in order to have an orderly appropriations process, not only this year but next year as well," McConnell said at the time.

ACTING DHS CHIEF PREDICTS PROGRESS BUILDING SOUTHERN BORDER WALL DESPITE CONGRESSIONAL INACTION

McConnell knows the debate over the border lingers, with Trump and many congressional Republicans pushing for additional wall funding. He's not just worried about the prospect of another shutdown Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year and when the current round of funding expires, but a second shutdown on Oct. 1, 2020, right before the presidential election.

The chances of another shutdown are high, considering that Trump went around Congress to declare a national emergency in order to marshal money for the border wall. The courts will determine whether that maneuver was constitutional, but the president's action alone bolstered the chances of another shutdown. The possibility increased even further after Congress failed to override Trump's veto of a measure to terminate the national emergency.

McConnell felt burned by the president after he forged ahead with a government spending plan in December, only to have Trump tell then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., he wouldn't sign the package. So after congressional leaders forged a mid-February deal to run the government through this fall, McConnell sped to the floor to publicly announce Trump's intention to sign the measure. McConnell's move locked in the president, lest he try to renege. McConnell understands Trump's fickle and volatile approach to governing. The president dumped McConnell and Ryan under the bus during a 2017 Oval Office meeting in favor of a spending gambit pushed by Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Wiser for that experience, McConnell knows the best bet is to secure broad, long-term buy-in from the White House and Congress on a topline spending measure to avoid potential shutdowns – pre-empting Trump's incessant oscillations.

Let’s examine exactly what's at stake. You may hear these negotiations referred to rhetorically as a "caps deal." This refers to an effort to establish total spending caps for discretionary spending (read: anything but entitlements) for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The "caps" refer to a set of mandatory spending restrictions (known as sequestration) which Congress imposed as part of the debt ceiling agreement in 2011. The goal is to make everyone happy as long as they can reach a topline accord for all spending by eliminating the caps. The advantage for Trump and many Republicans? Military spending and some additional money for a border wall. The advantage for Democrats? More spending on everything else.

Debts and deficits? Forget about it.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS POSTPONE BUDGET MEASURE VOTE AMID PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE

Sure, some fiscally-conservative Blue Dog Democrats may balk, as will fiscal conservatives like Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. But the key here is the right mixture of Democrats and Republicans. In divided government, leaders need to secure buy-in from both parties and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. But remember, these are discussions focused on overall spending numbers, not specific appropriations. A dispute over the latter is what led to the monstrous government shutdown in December and January.

House Democrats drew criticism two weeks ago when they yanked their budget blueprint off the floor because they lacked the votes to adopt it as divergent voices split the caucus. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Fox that if the budget (which only sets broad spending guidelines and is not binding) "had been critical ... I think Nancy (Pelosi) and I could have gotten it passed."

Hoyer pointed out that the discussions with the administration and McConnell are more "substantive." That's true. The budget House Democrats aimed to approve was simply a wish list, much like President Trump's budget in the winter. So, if the sides can get an agreement on spending caps, that would, in theory, make it easier to focus on the hard part, which is appropriations.

Here's the issue with the sequestration caps: Sequestration always hits the military hardest because Congress spends the most on the Pentagon. Sequestration restricts the Pentagon to $576 billion for fiscal year 2020 and could impose a cut of $71 billion to defense next year and $55 billion for non-defense programs.

TRUMP, GOP PLAN TO RESCIND BUDGET SPENDING HAS PRECEDENT BUT FACES ROCKY PATH IN CONGRESS

Trump and defense hawks want to spend more on the military. So, if they get a "caps deal," and cancel sequestration, they can spend a lot more. Of course, the deal must be made with congressional Democrats who also want to eliminate sequestration caps on non-defense spending.

Even though the House failed to adopt a budget this week, Democrats did set an overall discretionary spending figure (encompassing all 12 appropriations bills) of $1.295 trillion for fiscal year 2020. This excludes non-discretionary spending which includes entitlement spending.

But here are the politics: Both sides believe if they can get the president on board with the defense hikes, he could sign off on other Democratic priorities. And if both houses of Congress are behind the plan, Trump could agree and avoid the shutdowns.

The gambit would establish new spending caps for the remainder of the president's term, drastically reducing the chances of shutdowns while baking in a debt limit increase. They could also forge a deal on a supplemental spending bill to cover a host of natural disasters, from Puerto Rico to flooding in the Midwest. One GOP plan to address natural disasters is stalled in the Senate.

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"If we can come to the agreement with the Senate, that puts the onus on the White House," said House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky. "There will be no way [Trump] can explain it away. If he wants that [responsibility of a shutdown], it's on his shoulders."

Pelosi and Schumer are slated to visit the White House Tuesday to discuss a possible infrastructure plan with Trump. The last time Pelosi and Schumer huddled with the president in the Oval Office, sparks flew as the leaders verbally sparred with one another on live TV. The conclave produced one of the most memorable episodes of the Trump presidency. This tableau could prompt similar combat, even though the subject matter is infrastructure. The border wall dispute and immigration policy will remain a flashpoint as long as this president is in office and won't be settled by any caps agreement.

That's why many want to get started on a spending arrangement now. They know the next round of arguments over the wall could be more intense than the last.

Source: Fox News Politics

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The Latest: EU Parliament bloc suspends Hungary's Fidesz

The Latest on the dispute between the European Parliament's center-right EPP alliance and its Hungary's Fidesz party (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

Manfred Weber, leader of center-right EPP alliance in European Parliament, says Viktor Orban's Fidesz party has been suspended from the grouping.

After daylong discussions among members in the European Parliament's biggest alliance, Weber said Fidesz "can no longer propose candidates for posts" in the group and said they cannot vote on issues or join major group meetings.

"It was a very hard discussion," said Weber, adding that Orban was at the meeting in person.

"The message was crystal clear," he said "The EPP was very clear and united ... that the suspension is needed."

An evaluation commission led by former EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy will now follow developments within the Fidesz party.

___

12:40 p.m.

A senior lawmaker from Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's party says Hungary's ruling Fidesz party may be suspended from the main center-right bloc in the European Parliament.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's authoritarian style and anti-European Union, anti-migration policies have long put him at odds with many members of the European People's Party, whose delegates are meeting Wednesday to debate possible disciplinary measures against Fidesz.

Inge Graessle, an EU parliament lawmaker from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told Germany's SWR2 radio that she believes the EPP will "temporarily suspend his membership today — that is the step before expulsion — and then he can choose how he wants to continue."

Graessle said Orban, who had led Fidesz practically unchallenged since the early 1990s, "has to show credibly that he will change."

Source: Fox News World

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Morning Consult Poll: Most Voters Oppose Trump's Border Order

Most voters oppose President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the nation's southern border as the Senate prepares to vote on a resolution opposing the measure, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday.

The poll of 1,194 voters, conducted March 8-10, shows 52 percent of voters oppose the declaration, up one percent from February, reports Politico, compared to 38 percent of voters who support the declaration, down one percent.

The Senate is expected to vote against Trump's declaration Thursday, after the House voted last week against it. However, neither chamber has enough votes to override a likely Trump veto.

The poll shows opinions on the declaration generally fell along party lines:

  • 10 percent of Democrats support it.
  • 83 percent of Democrats oppose.
  • 80 percent of Republicans support.
  • 13 percent of Republicans oppose it.
  • 57 percent of independents oppose the declaration.
  • 30 percent of independents support it.

Voters said their opinions of lawmakers could also be affected, depending on how they vote for Trump's order:

  • 33 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for their senators or representatives if they supported Trump's emergency declaration.
  • 45 percent said they would be less likely.
  • 11 percent said it would make no difference.

The party splits on the measure were also similar:

  • 74 percent of Democrats said they would be less likely to support a lawmaker who supports the measure.
  • 70 percent of Republicans said they would be more likely.
  • 46 percent of Independents would be less likely.
  • 23 percent of Independents would be more likely.

Source: NewsMax America

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Adobe, Microsoft to take on Salesforce’s marketing software, with LinkedIn as a weapon

An Adobe Systems Inc software box is seen in Los Angeles
An Adobe Systems Inc software box is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

March 26, 2019

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Adobe Inc and Microsoft Corp are partnering to bolster each other’s sales and marketing software capabilities, taking aim at common rival Salesforce.com Inc, they said on Tuesday.

Adobe and Microsoft hope to make it easier for users of Adobe’s marketing software to find and target teams of potential customers for business goods on LinkedIn, the social network owned by Microsoft, they said at a conference in Las Vegas.

If an Adobe customer is selling medical equipment to a hospital, for example, the new partnership would make it easier to target tailored LinkedIn ads to all of the people involved in the purchasing decision, such as doctors, technicians and finance managers. If the marketing campaign works, sales people could then use Microsoft’s sales software to help close the deal.

“The LinkedIn network is one of those clear holy grails” for business marketers, Steve Lucas, chief executive officer of Marketo, a business-to-business marketing software firm that Adobe acquired last year for $4.75 billion, told Reuters. “It has just become such a huge lever for B-to-B marketers that it would be impossible for us to ignore it.”

Long known as the maker of content creation tools such as Photoshop, Adobe has in recent years turned to making the software used for marketing campaigns, which rely heavily on the content created with its software.

Most of Adobe’s tools were for marketers trying to reach consumers, but the Marketo acquisition last year bolstered its software for business marketers.

While Microsoft is best known for its Window operating system and Office program, it is also working to grow a business called Dynamics 365, software used by sales people to track deals. Its $26 billion acquisition in 2016 of LinkedIn, perhaps the most common tool used by sales people trying to drum up business, was a key piece of the effort https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-linkedin-idUSKBN17Q1FW.

In doing so, both are taking on Salesforce, the cloud software company that offers sales and marketing software, where Adobe and Microsoft lack one or the other.

But by integrating their systems, Adobe and Microsoft can offer something arguably “a lot broader” because Adobe software is how most marketing content gets made, said Melissa Webster, program vice president for content and digital media technologies at research firm IDC.

“There’s no question that Microsoft and Adobe both have a lot to gain from teaming up against Salesforce,” Webster said.

Salesforce could not be reached immediately for comment.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: OANN

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Vodafone connects 5G smartphones to its network for first time

FILE PHOTO: The Vodafone logo is seen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
FILE PHOTO: The Vodafone logo is seen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 28, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo

February 20, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Mobile phone group Vodafone has conducted a successful trial connecting next-generation 5G smartphones to its network for the first time as it prepares to launch 5G in some European cities later this year, it said on Wednesday.

Vodafone said it had made an ultra-high-resolution 4K video call during trials in Madrid and Barcelona, at speeds 10 times faster than current 4G technology.

Worldwide commercial launch of 5G is expected in 2020, and some countries led by the United States, China and South Korea have already announced or carried out deployments on a small scale.

The technology is likely to be used first for private or industrial networks, with national roll-outs for consumers some way behind.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; editing by Kate Holton)

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)

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