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Soybean exports help to shrink U.S. trade deficit in January

A trailer is filled with soybeans at a farm in Buda, Illinois
FILE PHOTO: A trailer is filled with soybeans at a farm in Buda, Illinois, U.S., July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Acker

March 27, 2019

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit narrowed by the most in 10 months in January likely as China boosted purchases of soybeans, leading to a rebound in exports after three straight monthly declines.

The better-than-expected improvement in the trade deficit reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday offered some good news for the economy after a raft of weak data, including retail sales, manufacturing and homebuilding, left economists anticipating a sharp slowdown in growth in the first quarter.

Still, the trade deficit remains large despite President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies to significantly shrink it. The White House’s protectionist trade tariffs have left the United States mired in a bruising trade war with China and provoked retaliatory tariffs from other trading partners.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit declined 14.6 percent, the largest drop since March 2018, to $51.1 billion also as increased domestic oil production and lower crude prices curbed the import bill.

Data for December was revised slightly down to show the trade gap widening to $59.9 billion instead of the previously reported $59.8 billion. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade gap narrowing to $57.0 billion in January.

Washington last year imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods imported from China, with Beijing hitting back with duties on $110 billion worth of American products, including soybeans and other commodities.

Trump has delayed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports as negotiations to resolve the eight-month trade war continue, with Beijing pledging to resume bulk purchases of soybeans after cancellations at the height of the trade fight.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are in China this week for another round of talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

The politically sensitive trade deficit with China fell 6.4 percent to $34.5 billion in January.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the trade data.

LOW GDP ESTIMATES

When adjusted for inflation, the goods trade deficit decreased $7.8 billion to $83.8 billion in January. The drop in the so-called real goods trade deficit could see economists bump up their very low first-quarter gross domestic product growth estimates.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve is forecasting GDP rising at a 1.3 percent annualized rate in the January-March quarter. The government reported last month that the economy grew at a 2.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

But that estimate is likely to be lowered when the government publishes a revision on Thursday as some economic data for December was weaker than had been previously assumed.

The trade deficit in January was pushed down by a 0.9 percent increase in exports to $207.3 billion. Soybean exports rose by $0.9 billion in January. Exports of motor vehicles and parts increased by $1.2 billion.

Export growth, however, continues to be constrained by slowing global demand and the dollar’s strength last year, which is making U.S.-made goods less competitive on foreign markets.

In January, exports of capital goods decreased by $0.8 billion, led by a $1.3 billion decline in civilian aircraft shipments. Despite the rise in soybean shipments, exports to China were the smallest since September 2010.

Imports fell 2.6 percent to $258.5 billion in January, the lowest level since last June. Imports previously had surged, likely as businesses stocked up in anticipation of further duties on Chinese imports.

Capital goods imports dropped by $3.0 billion in January, led by a $0.9 billion decline in imports of computer accessories. There were also decreases in imports of semiconductors and civilian aircraft.

The weakness in capital goods imports likely suggests a slowdown in business spending on equipment. A drop in imports normally suggests cooling domestic demand. There were, however, increases in imports of consumer goods, as well as motor vehicles and parts in January.

Crude oil imports dropped by $1.4 billion, reflecting both lower volumes and prices. Imported oil prices averaged $42.59 per barrel in January, the cheapest since December 2016.

Graphic: U.S. trade balance DataStream Chart – http://tmsnrt.rs/2eiMEKv

Graphic: Trade interactive – http://tmsnrt.rs/2fuSPiB

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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Water flows down California dam’s rebuilt spillway after 2017 collapse

Officials in Northern California released water down the reconstructed spillway of the nation's tallest dam on Tuesday, more than two years after it crumbled during heavy rains and forced thousands of homes to be evacuated over fears of catastrophic flooding.

Water flowed down the spillway and into the Feather River; storms this week and melting snowpack are expected to swell the lake behind Oroville Dam in the Sierra Nevada foothills, said Molly White, principal engineer with the California Department of Water Resources.

The spring storms follow a very wet winter that coated the mountains with thick snowpack; experts say this has left Califonia drought-free for the first time since December 2011. State experts determined Tuesday that the snowpack is at 162 percent of normal levels, a threefold increase over the same measurement last year.

The dam's main spillway "was designed and constructed using 21st-century engineering practices and under the oversight and guidance from state and federal regulators and independent experts," Joel Ledesma, deputy director of the department's State Water Project, said in a statement.

"We spent the last two years restoring full functionality of the spillway. We expect it to run as designed," he said during a news conference.

The original spillway on the 770-foot-high dam, which is 150 miles northeast of San Francisco, was built in the 1960s. In early 2017, storms drenched the state and the spillway broke apart as it carried heavy flows.

A damaged spillway with eroded hillside is seen in an aerial photo taken over the Oroville Dam in Oroville, California, U.S. February 11, 2017. 

A damaged spillway with eroded hillside is seen in an aerial photo taken over the Oroville Dam in Oroville, California, U.S. February 11, 2017.  (William Croyle/Handout via REUTERS)

Dam operators reduced the flow and allowed water to run down an emergency spillway — essentially a low area on the reservoir's rim — but the flow began eroding an earthen embankment that had never been used. Authorities had to order an evacuation of nearly 200,000 people living in communities downstream.

The threat of a dam collapse that would unleash a torrent of water did not happen, however, and people were allowed to go home days later.

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In January 2018, an independent panel of dam safety experts released a 600-page report that attributed the crisis to "long-term and systemic failures" by California dam managers and regulators to recognize inherent construction and design flaws in the dam.

Repairs have cost $1.1 billion. California requested about $639 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the fixes, but the federal government has rejected $306 million of those reimbursements. U.S. officials say the dam's upper gated spillway was damaged prior to the heavy rain two years ago.

Local water agencies are paying some of the repair costs, and would bear anything not paid by the federal government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Turkish employee of US consulate to remain in custody

Turkey's state-run news agency says a court in Istanbul has ruled for a Turkish employee of the U.S. Consulate to remain in custody pending the outcome of his trial on charges of espionage and attempting to overthrow the Turkish government.

The court's interim decision Thursday, reported by the Anadolu Agency, was expected to further strain ties between the two NATO allies. Metin Topuz, who has been held in pre-trial detention for more than a year, was expected to be released.

Topuz, a translator and assistant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, is accused of links to U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the Turkish government blames for the 2016 coup attempt. Gulen denies any links to the failed coup.

Topuz, a 59-year-old Turkish citizen, denies the accusation. He faces a life sentence if convicted.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. intelligence says Huawei funded by Chinese state security: report

Huawei logo is pictured during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai
A Huawei logo is pictured during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

April 20, 2019

(Reuters) – U.S. intelligence has accused Huawei Technologies of being funded by Chinese state security, The Times said on Saturday, adding to the list of allegations faced by the Chinese technology company in the West.

The CIA accused Huawei of receiving funding from China’s National Security Commission, the People’s Liberation Army and a third branch of the Chinese state intelligence network, the British newspaper reported, citing a source.

Earlier this year, U.S. intelligence shared its claims with other members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group, which includes Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to the report http://bit.ly/2KT7ztd.

Huawei dismissed the allegations in a statement cited by the newspaper.

“Huawei does not comment on unsubstantiated allegations backed up by zero evidence from anonymous sources,” a Huawei representative told The Times.

The company, the CIA and Chinese state security agencies did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

The accusation comes at a time of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing and amid concerns in the United States that Huawei’s equipment could be used for espionage. The company has said the concerns are unfounded.

Authorities in the United States are probing Huawei for alleged sanctions violations.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of its founder, Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Canada in December at the request of the United States on charges of bank and wire fraud in violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran.

She denies wrongdoing and her father has previously said the arrest was “politically motivated”.

Amid such charges, top educational institutions in the West have recently severed ties with Huawei to avoid losing federal funding.

Another Chinese technology company, ZTE Corp, has also been at the center of similar controversies in the United States.

U.S. sanctions forced ZTE to stop most business between April and July last year after Commerce Department officials said it broke a pact and was caught illegally shipping U.S.-origin goods to Iran and North Korea. The sanctions were lifted after ZTE paid $1.4 billion in penalties.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the United States will push its allies at a meeting in Prague next month to adopt shared security and policy measures that will make it more difficult for Huawei to dominate 5G telecommunications networks.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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Courting black voters, Bernie Sanders draws personal contrast with Trump

U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at the 2019 National Action Network National Convention in New York
U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), speaks at the 2019 National Action Network National Convention in New York, U.S., April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

April 5, 2019

By John Whitesides

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders, courting the black voters who did not support his 2016 White House run, drew a sharp personal contrast on Friday with what he called President Donald Trump’s racist policies.

Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, told a crowd of African-American activists that his push for economic equality, including universal healthcare, free public college and a higher minimum wage, would help ease the country’s racial wealth gap.

“Like many of you here, I have been fighting for economic, social and racial justice. As this presidential campaign begins, I believe that is the defining difference between President Trump and me,” Sanders said at the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in New York.

“Donald Trump is a man who has said he believes Nazis and white supremacists are ‘very fine people,'” Sanders said, a reference to Trump’s comments after violence at a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

“I am the son of an immigrant whose family was murdered by the Nazis, and so, from a very young age, I knew that we must stand up to bigotry wherever it exists.”

Sanders, whose father was an immigrant from Poland, struggled to win black support in his losing 2016 Democratic primary race against Hillary Clinton, who along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had proven appeal to black voters.

Since launching his 2020 presidential campaign, Sanders has made an effort to emphasize his history of civil rights activism and make an explicit case for how his economic policies would benefit African-Americans.

‘HE HAS LIVED UP TO EVERYTHING’

At the conference, Sanders drew words of praise from Sharpton, who has said he will not endorse a Democratic candidate until later in the year. Sharpton reminded the crowd, however, of his breakfast in Harlem with Sanders at the height of the campaign for president in 2016.

“I can say in the two years since, he has lived up to everything he has said to me and more. I want you to know he has done what he said,” Sharpton told the crowd.

Sanders was one of seven Democrats who spoke to the conference on Friday. Five others in the growing Democratic 2020 White House field appeared at the conference earlier in the week. [nL1N21L0TF]

The candidates have backed an array of policies to close the racial gap in economic equality, improve access to healthcare and institute criminal justice reforms including eliminating cash bail, outlawing the death penalty, legalizing marijuana and wiping clean the records of non-violent drug offenders.

Democrats in the 2020 race have intensified their outreach to black voters this year following the first decline in African-American turnout in 20 years during the 2016 election, which helped sink Hillary Clinton and contributed to Trump’s stunning upset victory.

The historically diverse 2020 Democratic field includes black, Hispanic and openly gay candidates, as well as a record six women so far. [nL1N21M11M]

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren raised the prospect in her speech of eliminating the Senate filibuster, the procedural rule that requires a 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member chamber, for legislation, saying it had been used through history to block civil rights and other bills.

Democrats eliminated the filibuster for some executive branch and lower-level judicial appointments when they controlled the Senate under Democratic President Barack Obama. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has curtailed it further to apply to Supreme Court nominations.

Eliminating the filibuster for legislation would be a significant escalation of the partisan battle that has raged in Congress in recent years.

“For generations, the filibuster was used as a tool to block progress on racial justice. And in recent years, it’s been used by the far right as a tool to block progress on everything,” Warren said.

“When Democrats have the White House again, if Mitch McConnell tries to do what he did to President Obama, and puts small-minded partisanship ahead of solving the massive problems facing this country, then we should get rid of the filibuster,” Warren told the conference.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Berkrot)

Source: OANN

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Germany warns of medical products shortage if Brexit chaotic: paper

Merkel and May discuss Brexit in Berlin
FILE PHOTO - QGerman, British and EU flags flutter in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany December 11, 2018. REUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH

March 28, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany could face shortages of medical products by mid-April if Britain makes a chaotic withdrawal from the European Union, German business daily Handelsblatt said on Thursday, citing a letter by Health Minister Jens Spahn to the EU Commission.

Tens of thousands of medical products could lose their approval if no “practicable procedures” were found, Spahn added, according to the paper.

(Reporting by Thomas Seythal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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Police: Sketch of suspect in 2 girls’ killings more accurate

A newly released sketch of a man suspected of killing two Indiana teenagers in 2017 "more accurately represents" the man believed to be their killer than a sketch released months after the girls were slain, state police said Wednesday.

The statement from Indiana State Police sought to clarify information about the two sketches on behalf of the multi-agency task force that's investigating the February 2017 killings of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams.

Master Trooper Taylor Bryant told The Indianapolis Star on Monday that he drew the sketch that was released this week just three days after the girls' bodies were found in a wooded area where they had been hiking near their northern Indiana hometown of Delphi. The sketch shows a clean-shaven white man whose age could range from his 20s to late 30s, according to police.

The police statement issued Wednesday said suspect descriptions were developed early in their investigation and that authorities "initially believed the sketch" released in July 2017 of a white man with a prominent nose and a goatee, possibly in his 40s or 50s, "was a person of interest in this murder investigation."

"Now, as the investigation has matured and past information has been reassessed, it is the belief of investigators with the Multi-Agency Task Force that the person depicted in the sketch released on April 22nd more accurately represents the person wanted for the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German," according to the statement.

The new sketch is "representative of the face of the person captured" in video taken from German's cellphone of a man walking on an abandoned railroad bridge, the police statement said.

Police released that brief video Monday of the suspect walking along that bridge, which the girls had visited while out hiking on Feb. 13, 2017 — the day they were slain.

Their bodies were found the next day, in a wooded area about a quarter-mile from that bridge near their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis.

Authorities haven't said how German and Williams were killed and have released few details about their findings.

Police also released a longer audio clip Monday they said captures the suspect saying "guys, down the hill." That audio also came from German's cellphone. Within days of the slayings, police released two grainy photos of the suspect on the same bridge and a shorter audio cut , all taken from German's cellphone.

___

Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com

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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