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US military to provide support to Mozambique for cyclone

The United States military says President Donald Trump has directed it to support relief efforts to help Mozambique with the destruction caused by Cyclone Idai more than a week ago.

The U.S. Africa Command statement comes three days after Mozambique's government made a formal request to the international community for aid. The southern Africa nation earlier declared a national disaster as its president said deaths from the cyclone could reach 1,000. Confirmed deaths are now close to 450.

The U.S. statement says AFRICOM provides disaster relief "when it has unique capabilities that can be utilized in the U.S. Government's response."

It says the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa will lead the U.S. military efforts and that its initial assessments have begun at the scene of the disaster.

Source: Fox News World

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Ten Kosovo women under house arrest after returning from Syria

Ten Kosovo women under house arrest after returning from Syria
Women repatriated to Kosovo from Syria enter the Basic Court in Pristina, Kosovo, April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Laura Hasani

April 23, 2019

By Fatos Bytyci

PRISTINA (Reuters) – Ten women repatriated to Kosovo from Syria at the weekend have been placed under house arrest on charges of participating in terrorist groups, a court said on Tuesday.

They were among a group of 110 Kosovo citizens brought back on Saturday from Syria, including 32 women, 74 children and four jihadists who had gone to fight in the country’s civil war.

The four fighters were immediately arrested and detained for one month awaiting questioning.

The women and children were sent to the Foreign Detention Centre in the outskirts of Pristina but were freed to go home after 72 hours.

Ten women were seen entering Pristina Basic Court in a police escort on Tuesday. The court said in a statement later that they had been placed under house arrest on charges of joining foreign armed groups and terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2019.

The state prosecution said all 32 repatriated women are under investigation and more of them are expected to appear in front of judges on Wednesday.

The prosecution has yet to file indictments.

After the collapse of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, countries around the world are wrestling with how to handle militants and their families seeking to return to their home countries.

Kosovo’s population is nominally 90 percent Muslim, but the country is largely secular in outlook. More than 300 of its citizens travelled to Syria since 2012 and 70 men who fought alongside militant groups were killed.

Police said 30 Kosovan fighters, 49 women and eight children remain in the conflict zones. The government said it plans to bring back those who are still there.

International and local security agencies have previously warned of the risk posed by returning fighters. In 2015, Kosovo adopted a law making fighting in foreign conflicts punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Volkswagen’s Skoda Auto posts 2.9 percent drop in first-quarter deliveries

FILE PHOTO: Skoda's logo is seen on a car after a presentation of the company's annual results in Mlada Boleslav
FILE PHOTO: Skoda's logo is seen on a car after a presentation of the company's annual results in Mlada Boleslav March 20, 2013. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo

April 11, 2019

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czech carmaker Skoda Auto, a unit of Volkswagen, posted a 2.9 percent drop in global deliveries in the first quarter, pulled down by a decline in the Chinese car market, it said on Thursday.

Deliveries fell to 307,600 vehicles in the first three months of 2019, although Skoda said it recorded growth in Europe and Russia.

For March alone, deliveries worldwide fell 5.0 percent to 114,200, Skoda said.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet)

Source: OANN

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EU lawmakers back preliminary deal on copyright reforms

Demonstrators take part in a protest in front of the European Parliament as MEPs debate on modifications to EU copyright reforms in Strasbourg
Demonstrators take part in a protest in front of the European Parliament as Members of the European Parliament debate on modificationS to EU copyright reforms in Strasbourg, France, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

March 26, 2019

STRASBOURG (Reuters) – EU lawmakers endorsed on Tuesday a preliminary deal on rewriting the bloc’s two-decade old copyright rules, which will force Google to pay publishers and artists for using their work online.

The European Commission kicked off the process two years ago in a bid to protect Europe’s cultural heritage and ensure publishers, broadcasters and artists received fair compensation from big online companies.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)

Source: OANN

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Democratic presidential candidates push Medicare-for-all ahead of 2020

As more Democrats enter the 2020 presidential race, many of the candidates are embracing a progressive issue they think will get them votes: universal healthcare.

“If you look at national polls and you ask people the most important issue that you think faces us in this country, No. 1 is healthcare,” said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University.

The issue is controversial and voters seem split on whether they support it. A recent Fox News poll shows that among registered voters 47 percent favor a national health insurance program.

Still, some candidates are rallying behind Medicare-for-all and even making it a central theme of their campaign.

“I will always support the philosophy of Medicare for all,” Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio told a crowd of voters in Dubuque, Iowa recently. “One of the first things I’d do if I am the president is pass Medicare at 55 or 50.”

At least eight out of 11 of the declared candidates support Medicare for all.

HOW MUCH WOULD 'MEDICARE FOR ALL" COST? DEMOCRATS' HEALTH CARE PLAN EXPLAINED

"I think that Americans deserve universal healthcare. I think citizens of most developing countries already enjoy this and I think it's crazy to suggest that Americans shouldn't be able to enjoy that same right," said South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg

More than 50 million people across the country are enrolled in Medicare, which provides health care for older Americans and persons with disabilities, costing an estimated $700 billion, according to data from Statista.

A George Mason University study puts the cost of ‘Medicare-for-all’ at more than $32 trillion over the course of the next decade. The anticipated cost is part of the reason why GOP leaders are against the idea.

Republicans said by embracing such a controversial topic, Democrats will hurt themselves.

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“If Democrats want to force their incumbents in suburban districts to campaign for re-election on rationed care, abolishing people’s existing employer-provided health benefits in exchange for less medical coverage, reduced medical freedom and significant tax increases, we are happy to let them do so," said Wes Enos, chairman of the Polk County Republicans. "It will present a very clear contrast with the Republican message of lower taxes, job creation, economic prosperity and greater medical freedom.”

Not all Democrats running for president in the next election cycle agree with Medicare-for-all. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., believes in creating more options for consumers.

"What we would like to do is expand to have more options for people and I think that will bring prices down," she said. "And one way to do it is to expand Medicaid or Medicare."

BEWARE: MEDICARE-FOR-ALL IS FOOL'S GOLD

In key early states like Iowa, healthcare is a big issue for some voters.

“That’s one of my biggest interests this election,” Tiffanie Hodges said at a campaigning event for Cory Booker in Des Moines, Iowa early February. “I think it’s really important.”

It’s unclear whether the issue will help or hurt the candidates.

"Medicare works fairly well," Schmidt said. "We just have to make sure that we don't allow the expenses of it to get greater than the income that's flowing in."

Source: Fox News Politics

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Family hopes to prove man’s innocence, even after his death

Lee Wayne Hunt died a prisoner, officially deemed guilty of a double murder — even though a co-defendant absolved him in a conversation with a lawyer that remained secret for decades.

Attorney Staples Hughes said a client who also was convicted in the case told him not long after the 1984 slayings of a Fayetteville couple that Hunt wasn't involved. Hughes risked disbarment when he told a judge in 2007 about the confession, after the client, Jerry Cashwell, had died.

"If you believe what my client told me, and I believe my client, that Mr. Hunt didn't do this, then it just becomes so terrible and so sad," Hughes told The Associated Press.

Hunt, 59, died alone Feb. 13 at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, where he had been taken about a week earlier for treatment of heart problems, his daughter, Heather Allen, told the AP. Prison officials didn't tell Hunt's relatives that he'd been moved from Maury Correctional Institution to the hospital until the family got word he had died, Allen said. He'd spent more than half his life in state prisons.

The AP received a tip that Hunt had died and is the only news organization to interview members of the families of both Hunt and the Matthews' couple since his death.

Hunt, Cashwell and a third man were convicted in the deaths of Roland and Lisa Matthews, who were shot and stabbed in their home in Fayetteville. Their 2-year-old daughter was found in a bedroom, physically unharmed.

Prosecutors said the couple was killed because Roland Matthews stole marijuana from Hunt, who ran a drug ring.

The only physical evidence tying Hunt to the crimes was a lead-content comparison of bullets that Hunt owned to bullets found at the crime scene — a comparison technique the FBI abandoned in 2005 after the method faced scientific criticism. Other evidence included testimony from an associate who received immunity and from a prison informant.

That's not to say Hunt had no criminal history.

In November 1985, Hunt was sentenced for felony drug possession and other charges. He was released in September 1986. Less than a month later, on Oct. 17, 1986, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Hunt's supporters were certain the lack of physical evidence, along with Cashwell's posthumously released confession, would eventually free him in the murder case.

But it didn't. Judges repeatedly ruled against him. North Carolina's unique Innocence Inquiry Commission couldn't take his case because there was no new evidence, said Chris Mumma, executive director of the nonprofit N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, which handled Hunt's case at one point.

Yet Hunt believed until the end that he would be exonerated, his daughter said. "He never let go of hope," Allen said.

He told her "If they don't find out while I'm here, hopefully the truth will come out when I'm not here," she said. "... He always talked about the Lord and he always believed things would come to a light one day."

Hughes, now 67, kept Cashwell's confession secret because of attorney-client privilege until after Cashwell died by suicide in prison in 2002. Hughes signed an affidavit for Hunt's attorneys in 2004. When Hughes came forward at a hearing for Hunt in 2007, the judge admonished him and reported him to the State Bar, which declined to take action against him.

Last fall, Hughes visited Hunt for the first time in prison. They talked for more than two hours.

"He completely understood the situation I was in," Hughes said. "He bore me no ill will."

But in his last few phone calls with his daughter, Hunt shared his worries about his health and the lack of care he believed he received behind bars, Allen said. When Allen received his personal belongings from prison officials, she found complaints about his medical care.

Correction Department spokesman John Bull said laws prohibit him from discussing a prisoner's health record. He said he'd share the Hunt family's concerns with prison medical officials.

The victims' family, meanwhile, is certain of Hunt's guilt and relieved he's finally gone.

Roland Matthews' sister, Paula Holland of Hope Mills, believes Hughes lied about Cashwell's confession. When asked what trial evidence convinced her of Hunt's guilt, Holland responded: "Because of who he is. Because of who he was. Because of his reputation."

Holland said her niece, Crystal Mayfield, was 22 months old when her parents were killed. She was found sitting on her bed, with her dog.

And when an exonerated ex-prisoner commented in a public Facebook post that Hunt died an innocent man, Mayfield responded: "I am very relieved that justice has finally been served and my family can have some peace now."

Mayfield didn't reply to a Facebook message from the AP. Her relatives said she didn't want to be interviewed.

It's not uncommon for prisoners who have evidence of innocence to die in custody. Responding to an email query, lawyers nationwide listed cases in multiple states where prisoners with strong evidence, including DNA, have died awaiting a chance to prove their innocence.

At least 21 people have been exonerated posthumously, with about half dying in prison, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Hunt, who learned to read and write in prison, was a woodworker. He enjoyed reading about log cabins and talked about the one he'd build when free, his family said. He used plastic knives and wood from pallets to carve animal figures, then dyed them with coffee grounds and decorated them with pastel crayons, Allen said.

The victims' family thinks Allen is lucky to have those memories.

"Lee Wayne Hunt was very fortunate," Holland said. "His family could go to prison and visit him. The only joy we had left was putting flowers on my brother's grave. I hate it for them, but I hate it for us, too ... We didn't take his life. ... We just had to wait and bide our time."

Hunt's supporters believe time did him no favors.

"Everything I knew about this case makes me believe he didn't do this," Hughes said. "And that's pretty terrible. I had hoped this would turn out different. And it didn't. It just turned out overwhelmingly sadly."

___

Associated Press reporter Allen G. Breed contributed to this story.

___

Follow Martha Waggoner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc

Source: Fox News National

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MS-13 members accused of stabbing 16-year-old 100 times, setting body on fire

Maryland police say five MS-13 gang members stabbed one of their own 100 times and drove the body to Virginia where they set it on fire.

The victim of the brutal attack was a 16-year-old high school student. Cops identified Jacson Pineda-Chicas this week after releasing a photo of a tattoo on his left arm, Tribune Media reported.

His body was found dumped on the side of the road in Stafford, Va., March 9.

Police in Prince George’s County said in a news release that the teen was killed in a home 60 miles away in Landover Hills, Md., that belonged to the leader of a Virgina MS-13 clique.

25 MS-13 GANG MEMBERS DEPORTED FROM MIGRANT CARAVAN IN MEXICO, OFFICIALS SAY

Cops charged the clique leader Jose Ordonez-Zometa, 29, with participating in the murder.

The other suspects and Pineda-Chicas drove to Ordonez-Zometa's home for a meeting March 8, police said.

“To hear somebody was stabbed 100 times, per the medical examiner, pretty much speaks for itself how violent the attack would have been,” Maj. Brian Reilly said Friday at a news conference.

He said invesitgators still don’t know why Pineda-Chicas was targeted for death by his friends.

Cops identified MS-13 murder victim Jacson Pineda-Chicas, 16, this week after releasing a photo of a tattoo showing a tatoo on his left arm.

Cops identified MS-13 murder victim Jacson Pineda-Chicas, 16, this week after releasing a photo of a tattoo showing a tatoo on his left arm. (Stafford County Sheriff's Office)

NBC 4 Washington reported speaking on Thursday to Pineda-Chicas’ mother who said her son was being threatened after saying he didn’t want to be an MS-13 gang member anymore.

The woman, who was not identified, told the station that when his gang pals accused him of talking to cops, they threatened to kill his family. He told them to kill him instead.

MS-13 MEMBERS SEEKING TO ‘HIT’ NY POLICE OFFICERS LIVING IN PARTS OF LONG ISLAND: REPORT

"He had to take knives to defend himself, and screwdrivers,” she told the station. “He had razors and he told me, 'Mom, I'm going to defend myself with them, but it's not going to be enough.'"

She said they fled El Salvador after her son was forced to join MS-13 there.

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Police said the others suspects in the case were Jonathan Castillo-Rivera, 20; Kevin Rodriguez-Flores, 18; Christian Martinez-Ramirez, 16, and Jose Hernandez-Garcia, 25.

Source: Fox News National

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEED FOR CASH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STATE COMPETITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bayer is appealing or plans to appeal the verdicts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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