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Explainer – Looking for America: Is Julian Assange heading to the United States?

FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Westminster Magistrates Court, after he was arrested in London
FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Westminster Magistrates Court, after he was arrested in London, Britain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 15, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – British police dragged Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy last Thursday after his asylum was revoked, ending his seven-year stay there and opening the way for his extradition to the United States.

Assange’s supporters, who cast him as a dissident facing the wrath of a superpower, fear the 47-year-old will end up on trial in the United States.

The United States wants Assange for one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history.

What happens now?

WHO IS ASSANGE?

Assange was born on July 3, 1971 in Australia. In his teens, he gained a reputation as a talented computer programmer and in the mid-1990s he was arrested and pleaded guilty to hacking. He founded WikiLeaks in 2006.

He shot to fame in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that laid bare often critical U.S. appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.

WHY WAS HE IN THE ECUADOREAN EMBASSY?

Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in June 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a preliminary sexual assault investigation.

That investigation was later dropped but because he had breached his British bail in 2012, he was arrested last week and found guilty of failing to surrender to Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Following his arrest, U.S. prosecutors announced charges against him and Swedish prosecutors are considering reopening the rape investigation.

JAIL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM?

Westminster Magistrates’ Court’s Judge Michael Snow said Assange faces up to 12 months in jail when he is sentenced at a later date at Southwark Crown Court.

The British criminal action against Assange will take precedence over extradition proceedings although Nick Vamos, lawyer at London-based firm Peters & Peters and former head of extradition at Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, said in practice it would make little difference.

    “Even if he gets a maximum 12-month sentence, that means he will serve six and it will take at least six months for his extradition proceedings to be resolved,” Vamos told Reuters.

    So while he is in custody, the extradition hearings can proceed. The British judge gave the U.S. government a deadline of June 12 to outline its case against Assange.

SO DOES ASSANGE END UP IN SWEDEN OR THE UNITED STATES?

The courts will have to rule on any extradition request and Home Secretary Sajid Javid would decide which one takes precedence.

Vamos said the home secretary would take into account the seriousness of the offence and which request was issued first, and expected a Swedish one would take supremacy.

    “Even though technically it would be a re-issued request, in effect it would be just a repeat of the request that was issued many years ago and therefore it would be treated as if it was the earliest one,” he said.

    “The fact that his extradition had already been ordered on it once would be in the home secretary’s mind. The U.S. government can wait a bit longer, they’ve taken quite a long time to sort out whether they were ever going to charge him or not …

“We don’t know what happened in Sweden, we don’t whether he committed that offense and there’s a victim there who’s been waiting for justice for many years and I think that should take priority.”

WHAT IS THE U.S. CASE?

Just hours after Assange’s arrest, U.S. prosecutors announced charges against him for conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to a government computer.

The indictment, filed in March 2018 and unsealed on Thursday, said Assange in March 2010 engaged in a conspiracy to help Manning crack a password stored on Defense Department computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications.

Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, was jailed on March 8 after being held in contempt by a judge in Virginia for refusing to testify before a grand jury in what is widely believed to be related to the Assange investigation.

Manning was convicted by court-martial in 2013 of espionage and other offences for furnishing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks while she was an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Former President Barack Obama commuted the final 28 years of Manning’s 35-year sentence.

WHAT IS THE SWEDISH INVESTIGATION?

Assange was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010. After opening an initial investigation, prosecutors dropped it, only to reopen it and issue an European arrest order for Assange, who had left the country for Britain.

Assange, who denied the allegations, fought through the courts to get an extradition order and the preliminary investigation dropped.

His lawyers said he feared that should he go to Sweden, authorities could hand him over to the United States.

Prosecutors ended the preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion in 2015 as the statute of limitations had already passed, but kept open the rape probe.

In May 2017, then chief prosecutor Marianne Ny dropped the preliminary investigation into rape without filing any charges, saying that there was no prospect of Assange being handed over within a reasonable timeframe.

Swedish prosecutors said on April 11 they had received a formal request to reopen the rape investigation from the legal counsel representing the alleged victim.

The request was assigned to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson, who said prosecutors would look into the matter and determine how to proceed.

The statute of limitation for rape is 10 years, a deadline which would be reached in the mid-August next year.

HOW COULD ASSANGE FIGHT EXTRADITION?

    “Everybody can challenge an extradition request on the basis it would be contrary to their human rights for them to be extradited,” Vamos said.

    “So Assange could argue that it would be impossible for him to have a fair trial in the U.S. given what happened to Chelsea Manning, given the notoriety, the publicity about his case that effectively he’s been tried in the media, public statements by U.S. officials (that) it’s impossible for him to have a fair trial.”

    He could also bring up potential conditions he would face in U.S. prisons.

    “He could argue the entire request is politically motivated that he is being prosecuted by reason of his political opinions or his political affiliations, that it’s revenge, it’s vindictive, it’s a vendetta,” Vamos said. “All of those arguments have legs.” 

    Sweden’s original request for Assange’s extradition went to Britain’s Supreme Court which backed the request.

    If a lower court orders his extradition, then he could again appeal the decision to London’s High Court and ultimately again to the Supreme Court if he can identify a challenge based on a point of law.

    For U.S. requests, the courts’ decision has to be ratified by the Home Secretary but Vamos said in effect this was now just a rubber-stamping exercise.

(Additional reporting by Niklas Pollard and Simon Johnson in STOCKHOLM and Mark Hosenball in WASHINGTON; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: OANN

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Man, 23, accused of posing as Timmothy Pitzen has criminal history, authorities say

An Ohio man whom authorities said falsely claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen, the Illinois boy who went missing in 2011 at age 6, was found to have a long criminal history and was once psychologically evaluated, according to reports.

Brian Rini, 23, of Medina, Ohio, was spotted in a Newport, Ky. neighborhood early Wednesday by residents who suspected he was trying to steal a neighbor’s car. When they approached Rini, he reportedly told them he was Pitzen, according to police in Sharonville, Ohio.

A DNA test, however, quickly determined that "the person in question is not Timmothy Pitzen,” the FBI’s Louisville field office tweeted.

PERSON WHO CLAIMED TO BE TIMMOTHY PITZEN IS NOT TIMMOTHY PITZEN, FBI SAYS, CITING DNA TEST

Police in Ohio said Rini is well-known to authorities in that state. He was released from prison early last month after serving time for burglarizing and vandalizing a $400,000 Ohio home that was for sale, Chicago's WGN-TV reported.

Police records cited by the station indicate that Rini had been on authorities’ radar even before the burglary and vandalism. In 2013, Rini’s mental competency to stand trial in Medina County, Ohio, was evaluated but officials determined he was of sound mind. Rini's brother, however, refuted those claims, telling Cleveland's FOX 8 that his brother has mental health issues.

TEXAS BOY, 9, MISSING SINCE 2017 FOUND IN FLORIDA

Pitzen’s family said they are heartbroken by the apparent hoax involving Rini. Kara Jacobs, Pitzen’s aunt, said learning that her nephew had not been found was “like reliving the day” he disappeared over again.

This undated photo provided by the Aurora, Ill., Police Department shows Timmothy Pitzen, missing since 2011. 

This undated photo provided by the Aurora, Ill., Police Department shows Timmothy Pitzen, missing since 2011.  (Aurora Police Department via AP)

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Pitzen disappeared in 2011 after his 43-year-old mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, picked him up from school in May 2011. It’s believed she took the boy to a zoo and a water park in Wisconsin before apparently killing herself in a hotel room in Illinois.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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The Latest: Jury convicts man in bunker fire death at home

The Latest on the trial of a wealthy stock trader in a bunker fire death at his Maryland home (all times local):

7:15 p.m.

A jury has convicted a wealthy stock trader of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the fire death of a man who was helping him secretly dig tunnels for an underground nuclear bunker beneath his Maryland home.

Jurors deliberated for roughly 12 hours before returning their verdict late Wednesday in the case of 27-year-old stock trader Daniel Beckwitt.

Beckwitt had been charged with both offenses in the September 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra. Beckwitt did not testify at his trial, which lasted nearly two weeks.

The fire erupted as Khafra was digging tunnels under Beckwitt's Bethesda home, which was littered with piles of garbage.

A prosecutor accused Beckwitt of recklessly endangering Khafra's life and sacrificing safety for secrecy. Defense attorney Robert Bonsib told jurors the fire was an accident, not a crime.

___

3:20 p.m.

A jury has apparently reached a verdict on one of two counts against a wealthy stock broker charged in the fire death of a man who was helping him dig tunnels for a nuclear bunker beneath a Maryland home.

In a note Wednesday to the judge, jurors said they've reached an agreement on one of the counts but are at an impasse on the other charge against 27-year-old Daniel Beckwitt. The note doesn't indicate which charge they can't agree on.

Beckwitt is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra.

The judge instructed the jurors to keep deliberating.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib has said Khafra's death was an accident, not a crime. But Montgomery County prosecutor Marybeth Ayres said Beckwitt sacrificed safety for secrecy and created the conditions that prevented Khafra from escaping the fire.

Source: Fox News National

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Delaware latest state to push for opioid tax

WILMINGTON, Del. – Drug manufacturers that sell opioid painkillers in Delaware may be paying an additional tax in the near future.

Lawmakers are hoping a bill introduced earlier this month will help support the growing need for substance abuse prevention and treatment services in the state.

FILE - This Aug. 29, 2018, file photo shows an arrangement of prescription oxycodone pills in New York. U.S. health officials Tuesday, April 9. 2019, warned doctors not to abruptly stop prescribing opioid painkillers to patients who are taking them for chronic pain ailments, such as backaches. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - This Aug. 29, 2018, file photo shows an arrangement of prescription oxycodone pills in New York. U.S. health officials Tuesday, April 9. 2019, warned doctors not to abruptly stop prescribing opioid painkillers to patients who are taking them for chronic pain ailments, such as backaches. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The state Senate bill passed 17-4, and will now move to the House for a vote.

The legislation will impose a per-pill tax on prescription opioids, ranging from a few cents to a couple of dollars, based on its strength and whether it's brand-name or generic. The tax would consist of one cent for every morphine milligram equivalent, or MME, of any brand-name opioid dispensed in Delaware, and one-quarter of a cent for every MME of a generic opioid.

Supporters of the bill say the average consumer should not see an increase in their pain medication because the small levy will be either paid by drug manufactures or absorbed by wholesalers, retailers, and distributors.

“This is an impact fee,” said chief sponsor Sen. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown. “What this says is if you bring something dangerous into our communities, then you have to step up and help [the] government clean it up.”

Delaware ranks as having the fifth most overdoses in the country per capita. Officials are estimating the tax would raise about $8 million over three years.

GOV. CUOMO'S PROPOSED PRESCRIPTION OPIOID SURCHARGE UNDER FIRE, CRITICS CALL IT TAX ON PAIN 

At least 14 other states have introduced similar legislation. New York is the only state that passed such a measure, although opioid manufacturers are currently challenging the legality and limitations of the new law.

“People are going through two-week rehabilitation programs several times. It's not working because they don’t have enough money for the long-term residential programs that are needed,” said Hansen.

For Joseph Dunn, 26, a counselor at Delmarva Teen Challenge Rehabilitation Center, the proposal is personal.

“This program and the grace of God helped deliver me,” said Dunn, “I don’t take the medication anymore, and now there is joy and happiness where pain once was.”

Joseph Dunn, 26, is a survivor of opioid addiction and support of the Delaware proposal.

Joseph Dunn, 26, is a survivor of opioid addiction and support of the Delaware proposal. (Fox News/ (Talia Kirkland))

Delmarva Teen Challenge is a faith-based rehabilitation center for boys and men who have been affected by issues like anger, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and other life-controlling problems.

Dunn, who says he's a survivor of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of his father, spent much of his teen years battling depression and opioid addiction.

KENTUCKY PUSHES FIRST-IN-NATION OPIOID TAX 

“The pills were so readily available, all I had to do was ask and someone knew where to get them,” he said.

He now credits his one-year-residential stay at the Delmarva Center for his sobriety.

But he said not everyone is as fortunate.

“Step up and provide some funds for the government who has to pour millions of dollars into combating this crisis,” Hansen said.

Hansen and other bill co-sponsors are demanding drug companies take responsibility for the role they have played in the widespread issue.

Dr. Daniel Bober, a board-certified psychiatrist, and mental health and patient advocate supports the bill and said the opioid crisis began with irresponsible drug manufactures and negligent doctors.

“There is a precedent for this [tax] and I think it can have a positive effect on funding treatment and getting people to reduce or eliminate their usage.”

Last year, California, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont all considered or began drafting legislation to pass a tax on opioids.

But critics of the proposal urge lawmakers to reconsider.

“Any type of tax will end up burdening people who have nothing to do with the problem,” said Pete Sepp. 
 
The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) said lawmakers must consider both the intended and unintended fiscal consequences of the legislation before it is enacted into law.

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“Any type of tax will end up burdening people who have nothing to do with the problem,” said NTU President Pete Sepp.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, PhRMA, which represents the country's leading biopharmaceutical researchers, said the opioid crisis must be approached holistically.

“Unfortunately, what’s being proposed—taxing legitimately prescribed medicines that patients rely on for legitimate medical needs to raise revenues for the state—ignores evidence-based solutions, sets a dangerous precedent and, ultimately, won’t help patients and families.”

Lawmakers in favor of the bill insist that the small levy would be used to increase the kind of drug rehabilitation Dunn believes saved his life.

“I’d like to become a minister someday," Dunn said. "I love to talk about the goodness of what Jesus has done.”

Source: Fox News National

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Domino’s same-store sales at company-owned U.S. outlets miss estimates

FILE PHOTO: A Domino's Pizza restaurant is seen in Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: A Domino's Pizza restaurant is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

April 24, 2019

(Reuters) – Domino’s Pizza Inc missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly same-store sales growth in the United States on Wednesday, hurt by growing competition from food delivery startups and rival pizzerias.

Same-store sales at company-owned U.S. outlets grew 2.1 percent – slowest in at least three years – widely missing the average estimate of 4.02 percent, according to IBES Refinitiv data.

The popular pizza chain has been facing intense competition from delivery services such as GrubHub Inc and UberEats, which offer a wide range of cuisines from a variety of restaurants.

To claw back some market share, Domino’s has been aggressively growing its store count by opening more small-format outlets, with fewer seating, to deliver faster by bringing delivery areas tighter and closer together.

The company has about 16,000 outlets worldwide and aims to grow to 25,000 stores by end of 2025.

The multiple store strategy, termed fortressing, has helped Domino’s improve the quality and speed of its delivery, but skewed sales toward newer outlets, hitting same-store sale comparisons and also overcrowding the market.

Domino’s said U.S. comparable sales fell between 1 and 1.5 points in 2018, but it was willing to make the investment for long-term growth.

International same-store sales for the company were also weak, rising only 1.8 percent, well below the estimate of 2.43 percent.

“We remain focused on improving international comps,” Chief Executive Officer Ritch Allison said in a statement.

Net income rose to $92.7 million, or $2.20 per share, in the first quarter ended March 24, from $88.8 million, or $2 per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue rose 6.4 percent to $836 million, but missed Wall Street’s forecast of $849.6 million.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

Source: OANN

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At Kim-Putin summit, hearty handshakes and manspreading

The ambiance was friendly. Nice, comfy seats. An exchange of polite welcomes.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un even managed to match Russian President Vladimir Putin's manspreading — the two sat with knees spread wide apart as they chatted before the start of their first summit, which began Thursday in the Far East port city of Vladivostok.

With so little else to go on, it's a common practice for North Korea watchers to pay extremely close attention to Kim's every word and gesture when he makes public appearances. Summits are no exception, and there's always lots of analytical commentary, insightful and silly.

What caught the attention of many outside observers Thursday wasn't the scene, but the sound — of Kim's loud breathing.

Clips of the introductory encounter were quickly tweeted around the world, many with comments about the leader's audible breathlessness. South Korea's media, meanwhile, speculated that it could be a sign of Kim's poor health. He is, after all, overweight and a notoriously heavy smoker.

But when the two delivered their opening comments to start the actual talks, Kim seemed to have gotten over whatever the problem was.

Experts have noted that when Kim met President Donald Trump for the first time, they nearly lunged at each other with hands outstretched for a handshake. They vied several times to lead the other with an alpha male hand on the back. Gazes were carefully not averted, lest that appear to suggest submission.

The impression from their second encounter, in Hanoi two months ago, was more measured. The two tended to mirror each other more closely, which is a sign of respect and cooperation rather than aggression.

Kim's first greeting with Putin was more like his performance in Hanoi.

He and Putin approached each other with smiles and held an extended handshake for the cameras. It's often an awkward moment, even for the most experienced politicians. But they appeared relaxed, as they also did during the initial part of the talks, which were broadcast live.

Unlike the much taller Trump, Putin is roughly the same height as Kim, which probably helped.

The health of the North Korean leader has been the topic of speculation before.

During his first summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, last April, he appeared to be out of breath as he signed a guestbook after a short walk. He was also shown on TV red-faced at a banquet, likely from the ample beverages available.

But Kim has managed to make it through nearly a dozen summits now.

It remains to be seen how effective he will be in getting out from under the sanctions that have been imposed on his country for its nuclear weapons programs. But if nothing else, he has demonstrated a surprising air of confidence alongside some of the biggest players on the world stage.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump vows to fight ‘all’ subpoenas against administration, calls demand for McGahn testimony ‘ridiculous’

President Trump on Wednesday vowed to fight back against congressional Democrats issuing subpoenas for administration officials, while calling their latest bid to bring in former White House Counsel Don McGahn for testimony “ridiculous.”

Departing the White House en route to a drug abuse summit in Georgia, the president was asked about the McGahn subpoena issued by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who wants to hear from the ex-White House lawyer after he featured prominently in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report.

TRUMP: ‘NO REASON’ TO HONOR DEMS’ ‘VERY PARTISAN’ SUBPOENAS, AS MCGAHN TESTIMONY FIGHT LOOMS

“The subpoena is ridiculous. ... I have been the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “We just went through the Mueller witch hunt where you had 18 angry Democrats, that hate President Trump … they hate him with a passion. How they picked this panel, I don’t know.”

He once again declared the probe found “no collusion and they also came up with no obstruction,” adding: “I thought after two years we’d be finished with it, no—now the House goes subpoenaing. They want to know every deal I’ve ever done.”

The special counsel did not find evidence of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. But despite Trump's comments, Mueller did not come to a conclusion on the matter of whether the president obstructed justice -- rather, the report revealed an array of controversial actions and requests made by the president that were examined as part of Mueller’s investigation’s obstruction inquiry. McGahn's interview with investigators factored prominently into this section, including a claim that McGahn disobeyed Trump's call to have him seek Mueller's removal.

But Fox News reported Tuesday that the White House will fight the McGahn subpoena as it resists a series of other congressional requests, and Trump's comments Wednesday pointed to a bigger battle ahead on multiple fronts.

“We’re fighting all of the subpoenas,” Trump said. “Look, these aren’t like, impartial people. They are Democrats trying to win in 2020. …They’re not going to win against me.”

He added that “the only way they can luck out is by constantly going after me on nonsense.”

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that the evidence found in the investigation was “not sufficient” to establish an obstruction-of-justice charge. But Mueller’s report seemingly left the decision on obstruction up to Congress—intensifying their already existing investigations into the president.

Nadler slammed the administration in response to reports that they'd fight the McGahn subpoena.

"The Committee has served a valid subpoena to Mr. McGahn. We have asked him to supply documents to the Committee by May 7 and to testify here on May 21. Our request covers the subjects described by Mr. McGahn to the Special Counsel, and described by Special Counsel Mueller to the American public in his report. As such, the moment for the White House to assert some privilege to prevent this testimony from being heard has long since passed," he said in a statement. "I suspect that President Trump and his attorneys know this to be true as a matter of law—and that this evening’s reports, if accurate, represent one more act of obstruction by an Administration desperate to prevent the public from talking about the President’s behavior. The Committee’s subpoena stands."

But Trump on Wednesday urged Democrats to refocus. “I say it’s enough. Get back to infrastructure, get back to cutting taxes, lowering drug prices. Really, that’s what we should be doing,” Trump said.

TRUMP VOWS HE’D TAKE IMPEACHMENT FIGHT TO SUPREME COURT

He added that investigators should “litigate” and “go after” the Democratic National Committee, “crooked Hillary,” and law enforcement officials who investigated his campaign.

“All of these things—that’s what should be litigated because that was a rigged system,” he said. “I’m breaking down the swamp. They’re getting caught, they’re getting fired. Who knows what’s going to happen right now but I hope it’s very strong.”

The president was referring to alleged misconduct on part of the FBI and Justice Department at the beginning of the Russia investigation. Barr announced that he is reviewing that conduct, after stating that he believes "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz is also reviewing alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and is expected to release his findings in the coming weeks.

Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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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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