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DNC Creates New Rule to Ban Bernie Sanders from Being Democrat Nominee

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A new rule adopted by the Democratic National Committee may block Bernie Sanders and other political outsiders from seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential election.

Randi Weingarten, a member of the DNC and president of the American Federation of Teachers, posted a photo of the rule change on Twitter saying that the rules and bylaws committee had “changed the rules to ensure to run for President as a Democrat you need to be a Democrat.”

In order to seek the party’s nomination, a candidate must publicly announce that they are a registered Democrat, will accept the Democratic nomination, and will “run and serve” as a member of the Democratic Party.

This rule seems to be in direct response to Bernie Sanders, the independent Senator from Vermont who fiercely battled Hillary Clinton in a surprisingly close primary race in 2016. Running on a platform of universal health care and free college for all Americans, Sanders gained popularity, especially among young voters.

Sanders received 43 percent of the delegates votes at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 after a heated battle in which he initially refused to bow to some establishment Democrats’ calls to throw in the towel. 

Currently, Sanders is running for re-election to the United States Senate in Vermont. His campaign strategy will be the same as his previous two Senate races, which includes running as a Democrat, declining the party’s nomination when he wins a majority of the votes and then running as an independent instead. This strategy allows Sanders to get rid of any possible threats by blocking any other liberal candidate from getting the approval of the Democratic Party.

But the DNC’s proposed rule change would not allow Sanders to do the same in 2020.

While Sanders has not said anything concrete about running for president again in two years, his 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weavers hinted at the possibility during an interview with C-SPAN host John McArdle in May.

“He is considering another run for the presidency and when the time comes I think we’ll have an answer for that. But right now he’s still considering it,” Weavers said.

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Afghan official blasts US talks with Taliban

Afghanistan's national security adviser on Thursday blasted the U.S. talks with the Taliban, saying the Trump administration has alienated the Afghan government, legitimized the militant network and is crafting a deal that will never lead to peace.

"If we are to make peace, it cannot be just a mere deal out somewhere far away where were not in the loop," Hamdullah Mohib said at a blunt and candid briefing with reporters that prompted a scolding by State Department officials.

Mohib, the former Afghan ambassador to the United States, also took aim at Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. point man negotiating with the Taliban. He suggested that the negotiations conducted by Khalilzad, a veteran American diplomat who was born in Afghanistan, are clouded by Khalilzad's political ambitions to lead his native country.

"The perception in Afghanistan and people in the government think that perhaps — perhaps — all this talk (with the Taliban) is to create a caretaker government of which he will become the viceroy," Mohib said, adding that Khalilzad had eyes on the Afghan presidency in both 2009 and 2014 when Ghani was elected.

He said more transparency about what the U.S. and the Taliban have discussed would help to quell misinformation and rumors. He said the Afghan government is the last to find out what has transpired at the negotiating table and has resorted to getting information by tracking tweets from the foreign minister in neighboring Pakistan, or brief readouts from U.S. officials involved.

"We are told that Ambassador Khalilzad is a great diplomat," Mohib said. "Well, I'm not sure I buy that because he is ostracizing and alienating a very trusted ally and partner."

"We think either Ambassador Khalilzad doesn't know how to negotiate or there are other reasons behind what he's doing. But what he's doing is not getting a deal that would result in peace."

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino dismissed Mohib's comments. He said David Hale, undersecretary of political affairs, summoned Mohib Thursday afternoon to reject his criticism about the U.S. talks with the Taliban.

"Hale underscored the longstanding U.S. assistance and support to Afghanistan, and expressed our commitment to the Afghan government's stability and full participation in the peace process," Palladino said.

He said Khalilzad represents Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and that "attacks on Ambassador Khalilzad are attacks on the department and only serve to hinder the bilateral relationship and the peace process."

Mohib insists that the U.S. is keeping the Afghan government in the dark. He said he has no information to share with Afghanistan's 350,000 police and soldiers, who have taken heavy casualties from the Taliban. He said in the past five years, 45,000 Afghans have been killed in the fighting — 36,000 security forces and 9,000 civilians.

"What are they fighting for? How am I supposed to convince them that they are not being sold out?" Mohib asked.

"As national security adviser, I have no information to share with those who are fighting for Afghanistan on the front line."

The longest session between the U.S. and the Taliban, lasting 13 days, ended this week with both sides citing progress toward ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, but many questions remain unanswered.

The Taliban are negotiating from a position of strength: They effectively control half the country, and President Donald Trump has made clear he is frustrated with America's longest war, wants to see a peace deal and is determined to bring at least some U.S. troops home.

The two sides have reached a draft agreement on the withdrawal of U.S. troops — a longtime Taliban demand — and the insurgents have rebuffed U.S. efforts to get them to negotiate with the Kabul government. Khalilzad has said that when the draft agreement about a withdrawal timeline and effective counterterrorism measures is finalized, the Taliban and other Afghans, including the government, will begin intra-Afghan negotiations on a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire.

Mohib said the Taliban are planning a "full-on" spring fighting offensive, emboldened by their sit-downs with American negotiators and have no inclination to negotiate with the Afghan government.

"There is no reason for them to do so," he said, adding that the legitimacy they've won from the talks has prompted them to boast that foreign ministers from around the world are seeking to meet with them.

In the talks, the Taliban have said they will prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for launching terror attacks, as it was prior to 9/11. But the insurgents have provided no specifics on what that would entail, and it remains unclear whether they are willing or able to confront other militant groups, some of which are longtime allies.

"Our understanding is even if there is a deal, it's a bad deal," Mohib said, adding that any Taliban guarantees that Afghan soil will not be used again as a launching pad for terror attacks amounts to "having cats guard the milk."

Source: Fox News National

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EU, UK to Seek Further Brexit Delay

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Harley Davidson to extend current labor contract through April 14: union

FILE PHOTO: Paris Auto Show
FILE PHOTO: A Harley-Davidson Inc. logo is seen at the Paris auto show in Paris, France, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

April 2, 2019

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Harley-Davidson and the United Steelworkers union, which represents the motorcycle maker’s workers in Milwaukee and Tomahawk, Wisconsin, have agreed to extend the current labor agreement through April 14, the union said on Tuesday.

The union members on Monday rejected Harley’s proposal for a five-year contract which included a 14 percent wage increase during the contract period as well as a $2,250 signing bonus.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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Biden launch sets up 2020 nomination fight with fellow front-runner Sanders

The reaction came fast and furious.

Soon after Joe Biden officially launched his much anticipated and long awaited 2020 presidential campaign, a leading progressive group slammed the former vice president.

JOE BIDEN OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID

“Joe Biden stands in near complete opposition to where the center of energy is in the Democratic Party today,” the Justice Democrats wrote on their Twitter feed.

Taking aim at Biden -- who’s perceived to be more moderate than many of the current contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, including progressive favorites Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts – the group argued that “we can't let a so-called 'centrist' like Joe Biden divide the Democratic Party and turn it into the party of 'No, we can’t.'”

Justice Democrats -- who also called Biden “out-of-touch” –  is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive rock-star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

PROGRESSIVE GROUP TAKES AIM AT BIDEN SOON AFTER LAUNCH

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

EX-SANDERS STAFFER SAYS BIDEN'S RECORD WILL BE USED AGAINST HIM

But it's not just Sanders supporters who are targeting Biden.

The head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee – which has backed Warren -- also took aim at Biden, who enters the race as the front runner in most national polls and early primary and caucus voting state surveys, slightly atop of Sanders and well ahead of the rest of the large field of 20 contenders.

"With billionaires deciding not to run, progressive candidates have been in need of a foil. If Joe Biden positions himself as the political insider from yesteryear who says big ideas like universal child care, student debt relief, and a wealth tax on ultra-millionaires are not possible, he would be an easy foil, Adam Green, the co-founder of PCCC, told Fox News.

These kind of jabs from progressive groups could be the appetizer for a building clash between the progressive and establishment sings of the party.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he's a moderate in a party that's increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

BIDEN SAYS HE ASKED OBAMA NOT TO ENDORSE HIM

Former President Barack Obama, Biden’s boss for eight years, remains extremely popular with Democrats.

And Biden said he'd stack his record against "anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run."

Highlighting his early public push for same-sex marriage, he said, "I'm not sure when everybody else came out and said they're for gay marriage."

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Brazile pointed out that “the party now has a very vocal and sizeable number of millennials who are not old school. They want someone who can lead their generation as opposed to someone who can lead the country.”

And she spotlighted that Biden’s “challenge is going to be to convince a new generation of Democrats that he can represent their views as well.”

A leading Republican strategist suggested that Sanders could have the upper hand over Biden.

“I predict a slow and steady drop in the polls for Joe Biden. A politician who has been in the public eye since before Watergate is going to find a far different Democratic Party than even the one he remembers from even the Obama-Biden years,” argued Colin Reed, a veteran of presidential and senate campaigns who later served as executive director of the pro-Republican opposition research shop America Rising.

Reed claimed that age is a bigger factor for the 76-year old Biden that for Sanders, who’s a year older.

“Bernie Sanders is pushing 80 years old, but his socialist policy prescriptions are the present and future as far as liberal primary voters are concerned,” Reed spotlighted. “All the Beltway chatter about Biden's perceived strength in a general election means nothing if he can't get through the raucous primary contest before him.”

With slightly more than nine months to go until the first votes are cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, it's far from a sure thing that Biden and Sanders will remain standing atop the rest of the pack.

“While Bernie and Biden have some advantages, there is a lot of time for other candidates to break through. In other words, we will see if the two front-runners have peaked too early,” noted Wayne Lesperance, vice president of academic affairs at New England College.

And University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala said he’s “not convinced that those two combined, take all the oxygen out of the room and then it becomes a two person race.”

And he questioned Biden’s staying power more than that of Sanders, saying “I’m still curious whether Biden’s appeal to moderate Democrats is going to be as enduring as Sanders is so far among progressives.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Golf: Koepka shows mental toughness to share Masters lead

Second round play of the Masters at Augusta National
Golf - Masters - Augusta National Golf Club - Augusta, Georgia, U.S. - April 12, 2019 - Brooks Koepka of the U.S. hits off the 4th tee during second round play. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

April 12, 2019

By Frank Pingue

AUGUSTA Ga. (Reuters) – Brooks Koepka was all brawn in the first round of the Masters but on Friday he was all brains as he showcased his mental toughness on a day when it looked like he might drop out of contention.

A day following a flawless trip around Augusta National, overnight leader Koepka was forced to battle through ups-and-downs en route to a one-under-par 71 that left him in a five-way share of a one-shot lead after the second round.

“I’m proud of myself the way I hung in there,” said Koepka, who is on seven-under-par for the tournament. “To be where I’m at, as badly as I putted and hit the ball today, I’m pleased with it.”

Three-time major champion Koepka birdied the first hole but looked like he might unravel after running into trouble at the par-five second where he made a double-bogey after his drive found the trees to the left and second shot went in a hazard.

Koepka responded immediately with a birdie but then had a pair of bogeys over the next three holes, at which point it appeared the new leaders would begin to pull away on an Augusta National layout that was softened due to rain.

But Koepka righted the ship with a birdie at the par-five eighth and then played solid golf on the back nine with birdies at 15 and 18, the latter which will surely send him into the night feeling better.

“I know some people don’t think I’m mentally tough, or tough in general, but I think I am,” said Koepka. “I’ve proven that with three (major) trophies.

“I feel like no matter how things are going, whether they are going really well or really poorly out there, I can grind it out, and especially during a major.”

Koepka, who has won two of the last three majors and missed last year’s Masters due to a wrist injury, is not about to panic or overanalyze what happened during the second round.

“I’ve been playing this game for 22, 23 years. Nothing is going to change overnight,” said Koepka. “I know how to play the game. I just know how to hit the ball. I know I’m going to go out there and go do what I normally do.

“I’m not trying to, you know ‑‑ just because it’s a major on a Saturday, I’m not going to go out and do anything different. Just go tee it up, look where I want to hit it and fire at it.”

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

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Family of Mall of America victim: ‘Prayers are working’

The family of a 5-year-old boy thrown off a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America earlier this month says he remains in intensive care but that the public's "prayers are working."

A short statement Tuesday said the boy remains under sedation. The family, which has asked for privacy, says the child "has an important week ahead with more milestones to accomplish."

Mac Hammond, a pastor at a church attended by the child's grandparents, said during his Easter service that there was no evidence the boy had a brain injury.

R. Stephen Tillitt, an attorney for the boy's family, says he could not confirm or deny Hammond's description because it would invade the family's privacy.

A 24-year-old man is charged with attempted murder in the April 12 attack.

Source: Fox News National

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED FOR CASH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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Sudan’s military, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir after months of protests against his 30-year rule, says it intends to keep the upper hand during the country’s transitional period to civilian rule.

The announcement is expected to raise tensions with the protesters, who demand immediate handover of power.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the protests, said Friday the crowds will stay in the streets until all their demands are met.

Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, the spokesman for the military council, said late Thursday that the military will “maintain sovereign powers” while the Cabinet would be in the hands of civilians.

The protesters insist the country should be led by a “civilian sovereign” council with “limited military representation” during the transitional period.

The army toppled and arrested al-Bashir on April 11.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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